'I will kill you': Aussie man jailed over verbal abuse of cops

SINGAPORE - An Australian man, who went into a profanity-laden drunken tirade against three police officers and said he would kill one of them, did not learn his lesson after his arrest in November 2019.

While out on bail, Conrad Drummond Clarkson went drinking in September 2021 and was arrested again after he was involved in a drunken ruckus and refused to pay a bill.

In June 2022, he became unruly after an alcohol-fuelled night out and abused two police officers with vulgar language.

Clarkson, 32, was sentenced to three weeks' jail and a fine of $2,500 on Wednesday (Sept 13), after he pleaded guilty to five charges including two counts of harassment. Seven other charges were considered during sentencing.

He was also given a discharge amounting to an acquittal over a criminal intimidation charge involving a death threat to a policeman. This means Clarkson cannot be charged again with the same offence.

During investigations, he admitted that he had consumed liquor at the Singapore Cricket Club on Nov 26, 2019 before making his way to Boat Quay.

At around 3am the next day, an intoxicated Clarkson pushed some tables outside a bar in Circular Road and shoved one of its workers who approached him.

The worker alerted the police and three officers arrived at the scene soon after. One of them asked Clarkson to produce his identification documents, but the latter gave an incoherent answer.

He was arrested and hurled vulgarities at one of the officers when they reached the Police Cantonment Complex

Among other things, he told the officer: "When I get out of here... I will kill you...You are dead!"

Clarkson went on to abuse two more officers with vulgar language later that morning.

A doctor examined him at the Central Police Division at around 11.30am on Nov 27, 2019.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Santhra Aiyyasamy said: "He was diagnosed as having either contusion, sprain of his left shoulder or a shoulder dislocation that had been relocated."

Court documents did not disclose when or how his shoulder could have been dislocated.

Clarkson was charged in court on April 7, 2020 before he was released on bail.

On Sept 19, 2021, he became drunk after drinking several pints of beer at bars around Boat Quay and fell asleep in one of them in Circular Road.

But he was woken up by a bar assistant who wanted him to settle his bill of $8.25 for a pint of beer.

The Australian became aggressive and left without paying. The bar assistant's colleague later found him sleeping outside a nearby Korean restaurant.

The prosecutor said: "(She) told the accused that if he did not pay the bill, she would call the police. The accused informed her that he had been arrested before and challenged her to call the police."

She lodged a report and Clarkson was arrested. He settled the bill three days later.

On another occasion at around 1am on June 26, 2022, Clarkson went to an Orchard Towers nightspot with three people including a Filipino woman, and started behaving in an unruly manner after several drinks.

The group was told to leave the bar after Clarkson hit two of his drinking buddies and shoved the woman.

They were at the entrance of the Orchard Road shopping mall when the woman saw police officers and approached them for help.

When questioned, Clarkson refused to respond and kept challenging the officers to arrest him.

He later hurled vulgarities at two of the officers inside a patrol car.

The DPP had earlier urged the court to sentence Clarkson to between six and eight weeks' jail, adding: "The accused...had repeatedly committed similar offences on three separate occasions, over a long period of three years."

She also said that he was unprovoked when he verbally abused the police officers on two different occasions.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.