British man who punched policeman outside Zouk jailed 3 months
A Briton who punched a policeman and grabbed his neck outside Zouk nightclub earlier this year has been jailed three months.
Alex Arrash Ariana, 34, who is a Hong Kong-based director of a headhunting firm, pleaded guilty on Monday (18 September) in the State Courts to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to SSGT Chen Tianxiang Ivan around 4am on 29 April this year.
A separate harassment charge against Ariana for uttering expletives at SSGT Chen was taken into consideration.
SSGT Chen was in the vicinity of Zouk with several police officers when Ariana had an argument with a security manager near the entrance of the club in River Valley Road.
A policeman had approached the security manager who told the officer that Ariana did not want to leave Zouk although the club was closing and that the Briton had been aggressive. The policeman observed that Ariana was intoxicated.
The policeman approached SSGT Chen and another officer and informed them about the argument. Ariana then walked out of the club towards an ambulance that was stationed outside Zouk and tried to enter the ambulance.
One of the officers walked over to Ariana to prevent him from entering the ambulance. When SSGT Chen approached Ariana and asked him to move to one side, he did not comply. Ariana tried to push SSGT Chen away and in the process, grabbed the victim’s left wrist.
SSGT Chen and two other officers then tried to arrest Ariana, who resisted them. When they tried to pin Ariana down, he grabbed SSGT Chen by the neck with his right hand. Ariana also punched SSGT Chen on his face above his left eye with the same hand.
Eventually, four police officers had to be involved in arresting Ariana and the Briton continued resisting violently until he was handcuffed. Ariana then shouted expletives and threats at the officers. When he was being driven in a police patrol car, he uttered expletives about the court and the investigation.
Ariana, who frequently travelled to Singapore for work, later admitted that he had about six to eight cocktails before the incident.
SSGT Chen was sent to hospital and was observed to have swelling and bruising around his left eye, tenderness over the neck and abrasions over his left elbow area.
In mitigation, his lawyer Tania Chin said Ariana was suspended by his company in June and terminated from his job the following month. Ariana has not committed any offence prior to the one-off incident at Zouk and was of good character, Chew added.
Ariana could have been jailed for up to seven years, or with fine, or with caning, or with any combination of the punishments.
