Jail sentence for British tourist who caused a stir at MBS after drinking; attacked employee

SINGAPORE: After drinking alcohol, a man caused a commotion at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) by throwing a flower pot and attacking several people, including a staff member.

The staff member suffered head injuries and was hospitalized following the attack on September 21.

On Thursday (October 17), British national Jonathan David Lowe, 43, was sentenced to six weeks in prison after pleading guilty to one charge of public nuisance and one charge of voluntarily causing hurt. He was also fined S$1,000.

Four other charges of hurting other members of the public were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The court heard Lowe is a company director of a firm called Keylon Interiors. He had come to Singapore as a tourist for the Formula 1 race when the incident occurred.

On September 21 around 8 p.m., Lowe drank two cups of whiskey in the back of MBS’s rooftop bar with colleagues and customers.

Closed-circuit television footage showed him entering a hotel lift with five other men at around 10.40pm.

Footage played in court showed Lowe crossing his arms and then stretching both arms upwards.

Then he suddenly punched and punched four of the five men in the elevator.

Some of them tried to stop him, but he continued the attacks until the elevator stopped and the five men ran out.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yang said the men did not suffer serious injuries and did not seek medical treatment.

After attacking the men, Lowe went to the B2 elevator lobby at 10:58 p.m. How he got there was not stated in court documents.

Lowe pulled an orchid plant from its pot and threw the pot into another elevator car before getting back on the elevator.

As the elevator went to level four, DPP Zhou said Lowe intended to throw the pot out of the elevator but stopped when he saw a member of the public.

He took the flowerpot from the elevator, threw it on the floor and walked away.

At 11:12 p.m., Ng Se Li, 28, an assistant manager at MBS, walked to the elevator lobby on the fourth floor.

Without warning, Lowe hit Ng’s head, causing him to fall backwards and hit the wall.

Lowe hit Ng in the head at least five times. When the attacked man tried to get up, Lowe both stomped on his head and kicked him.

Ng was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with head injuries. He was given seven days of hospital leave.

As footage of the attack played in the courtroom, Lowe hung his head.

DPP Zhou asked Lowe to be fined for throwing the flowerpot, and sentenced to eight to ten weeks in prison for assaulting Ng.

The prosecution highlighted the severity of Ng’s injuries as he had to be kept under hospital observation overnight after the attack.

“The attack was unprovoked. The manner of the attack was brutal,” said DPP Zhou.

In mitigation, Lowe’s lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan said there were a number of testimonies about his client’s good character.

“What we have here is in reality an anomaly, a one-off incident, or a series of unfortunate incidents in a short period of time,” said the lawyer, who asked for a fine instead of a prison sentence for his client.

Kalidass added that his client was “stunned” by his actions and even did a CT scan to see if they were related to an old head injury.

However, it was later determined that the injuries were not related to the violations.

The lawyer added that Lowe apologized and offered compensation to the victim. – The Straits Times/ANN