Singapore: Unemployed Briton escapes jail time after assaulting teenager in road rage

Unemployed Briton Alan Benjamin Maybury, 34, has been slapped with the maximum £2,400 fine for punching a 19-year-old student in the face following a road rage incident in Singapore two years ago. Maybury escaped a two year jail term for voluntarily causing hurt, causing anger in the local social media.

The former consultant admitted to punching polytechnic student Lum Kwok Weng, 19, on his face several times on 30 November 2014 after Lum's car crashed into a taxi that Maybury and his wife were travelling in. A second charge of using abusive words by shouting expletives at the teenager were also taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court was told that Lum was driving his mother's car with a friend when the car skidded along a sharp bend and hit the taxi. Maybury were in the taxi and were heading home after dinner at a friend's place where they had consumed two glasses of champagne each, the Straits Times reported.

Following the crash, Maybury alighted from the taxi, shouted an expletive at Lum before punching him on the face and hurling vulgarities. He only stopped when a passing motorcyclist intervened and called the police.

Maybury's lawyer Suresh Damodara said in mitigation that his client acted the way he did "because of certain extreme and extenuating factors operating on his mind and psyche" after and as a result of the accident.

Singapore's news portal All Singapore Stuff published the news story with the headline: "Ang Mo fined, not jailed, for punching local teenager after accident. Ang Mo is mainly used in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore to describe Caucasians. It literally means red-haired and originates from the Chinese Hokkien dialect.

Chris Cheung wrote on the portal's news page: "As usual, lax with foreigners." He said Maybury deserved to be fined and receive a jail term.