Uber driver who accelerated into van driver standing in front of car jailed
SINGAPORE — An Uber driver accelerated his car into a fellow motorist during a road dispute, causing the victim to be flung off its bonnet and onto the road.
On Tuesday (27 August), Ashraf Iskandar Umar Dikarno was jailed 16 weeks and three days for various offences, including for punching his mother-in-law in the face and unlawfully possessing a black extendable baton.
The 27-year-old Singaporean was also disqualified from driving for a year.
Ashraf pleaded guilty to one count each of causing hurt through a rash act, voluntarily causing hurt to his mother-in-law, and being unlawfully armed with a dangerous weapon.
Three other charges, including affray, committing mischief and failing to stop after a road traffic accident, were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The dispute started after Ashraf and the victim overtook each other in their respective vehicles.
On 28 May 2017, Ashraf cut out of a slip road into the path of a van driven by Muhammad Asyiq Noor Muhammad, 21, at about 4.40am. Asyiq then overtook Ashraf, who then did the same.
As Asyiq entered into the Bukit Timah Expressway, Ashraf pursued him. While on the expressway, Ashraf drove his car up alongside Asyiq’s van.
Both motorists wound down their windows and exchanged heated words. Ashraf brandished his baton at Asyiq, prompting a passenger in Asyiq’s car, Ryan Thomas Mission, to call the police.
Minutes later, Asyiq decided to stop his van in a bus bay along Commonwealth Avenue West in the direction of Clementi Avenue 2. Ashraf also stopped his car.
Both motorists alighted and got into an argument where they pushed each other on the chest.
When Ashraf walked back to his car, Mission used his phone to take a photograph of the baton, which was in the car, but Ashraf snatched his phone and threw it onto the road.
Mission then opened Ashraf’s car’s passenger side door to prevent him from driving off. Asyiq also stood in front of Ashraf’s car.
“Despite Asyiq being directly in front of the car, (Ashraf) drove the car into Asyiq, throwing him onto the car’s bonnet. As (Ashraf) accelerated off, Asyiq was flung off the bonnet onto the road to the right of the car,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok. Ashraf then sped away while Mission ran to Asyiq’s assistance, Kok added.
Police officers responding to Mission’s call for help spotted the car at Commonwealth Avenue West along Ghim Moh Road about half an hour after the dispute began. Officers intercepted the car and found the black baton.
Asyiq suffered from a minor traumatic brain injury and bruising on the right shoulder. He was hospitalised for two days.
In a separate offence, Ashraf punched his 50-year-old mother-in-law after a dispute at the void deck of his block on 17 October. The mother-in-law had gone there to confront Ashraf, accompanied by her son and three of his friends.
The group got into a brawl after the punch was thrown. The mother-in-law sustained a bruise on her chin.
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