Moviegoer jailed for punching couple who told him to stop shaking his leg

After being told to stop shaking his leg in the cinema, the man attacked fellow moviegoers, raining blows on them.

Yesterday, Clifton Wong Jun Han, 23, a fireman with Changi Airport Group, was jailed for one day and fined $3,000 for one charge of voluntarily causing hurt. A similar charge was taken into consideration.

The court heard that around 5pm on Aug 1, Wong went to watch a movie with his pregnant wife at Shaw Cinema in The Seletar Mall.

During the movie, he began to shake his leg, causing disturbance to another couple who felt their seats moving. The fellow moviegoer then told Wong to refrain from shaking his leg.

The movie ended at about 5.50pm, and Wong got up from his seat to leave.

But he claimed that as he was doing so, he tripped and stepped on the victim's foot.

The victim did not respond, but while walking away, Wong turned around and uttered a profanity at him.

The victim, who was still seated, chose to ignore him.

But Wong confronted the man and started raining blows on his face.

The victim's wife then tried to stop Wong, but he then turned on her and punched her arm several times.

Wong had to be restrained by his own pregnant wife and other moviegoers.

The injured couple went to Sengkang General Hospital, where the man was found to have suffered bruising on his head while the woman suffered bruising on her arm.

Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Ho urged the court to jail Wong, saying there were aggravating factors including the attack on the woman who had tried to stop him.

But defence lawyer Gino Hardial Singh asked the court for the maximum fine of $5,000 instead, saying his client had snapped as a result of considerable stress and withdrawal effects from not smoking.

He added that the harm caused was low and he did not have any prior convictions.

District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said he agreed with the prosecution that a custodial sentence was warranted, as Wong had attacked not only the victim, but the victim's wife as well.

For each count of voluntarily causing hurt, Wong could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined up to $5,000, or both.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.