Quan Yifeng pleads guilty to mischief
Actress and host Quan Yifeng has pleaded guilty to one charge of mischief after a dispute with a taxi driver turned physical in June last year, according to local media reports.
This involved damaging a taxi meter by pulling it out and spilling water on its receipt printer.
Appearing in court with the 37-year-old star on Monday, Quan’s lawyer Subhas Anandan pleaded in mitigation that she suffers from clinical depression and anxiety, reported Channel NewsAsia.
Quan, who has been fined twice for getting into a fight with a bowling alley attendant and for driving without a licence and causing an accident, was also on anti-anxiety, anti-depressant and sleep medication right up to the time the incident happened, a psychiatric report showed.
On 26 June 2010, Quan, her 11-year-old daughter and Quan’s personal assistant were headed to Changi Airport in a taxi driven by Chan Swee Kong when they clashed near the junction of Upper East Coast Road and Bedok South Avenue 1. Details of the incident were aired in court, including the star’s unhappiness with the 52-year-old’s refusal to assist with her luggage and his apparent confusion with directions to the airport.
Subhas, who outlined the incident, was reported as saying that the cabbie also slammed the emergency brakes, which caused Quan’s daughter to fall off her seat, and later insinuated that the girl’s distress was related to Quan’s divorce from former actor Peter Yu.
It was heard that Quan then locked herself inside the taxi for 15 minutes, sitting in the driver’s seat, emptying the vehicle’s compartments and strewing Chan’s belongings on the cab’s front seat and floorboards. She also pulled the taxi’s fare meter out and spilled water on the front seat and receipt printer, The Straits Times reported.
Quan is “deeply remorseful” and her “mental disorder contributed to acting against her better judgement,” Subhas was quoted as saying.
In what seems to be a rare move when an offender is more than 20 years old, Subhas also asked the court to call for a probation report — which details a defendant’s criminal history, statements made from the defendant and other involved parties and information from police investigation, coupled with a recommendation for sentencing.
Quan did not speak in court. She will be sentenced on 29 December and two other charges of mischief and use of criminal force will be considered, pending a probation report.
The host could receive up to a year’s jail sentence and a fine.
