Jail for man who stole from doctor, verbally abused police officer, crashed PMA inside hospital
Lester Tan Jian Ming, 40, also admitted to speeding on his personal mobility aid (PMA) inside a hospital, which led to him crashing it against a wall twice.
On May 30, Tan was sentenced to 13 weeks' jail after pleading guilty to six charges including for assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant, theft, mischief, committing rash acts and harassment.
Five charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
The court heard that on Sept 20, 2024, Tan was seeking medical treatment at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The prosecutor said Tan was under the influence of drugs at the time, but did not reveal which ones.
As a doctor was attending to him, he reached into the front pocket of the doctor's uniform and stole her iPhone.
On Feb 11, Tan was hospitalised at TTSH when he encountered a doctor conducting her rounds at 9am and asked her for his medication that had been prescribed by the Institute of Mental Health.
When the doctor advised him to collect the medication from IMH, he became agitated and verbally threatened her.
The doctor told a colleague about the interaction, and they called for police assistance.
At about noon that day, Tan was discharged from the hospital and escorted out of the ward by two auxiliary police officers. He was using a PMA at the time.
As he left the gantry of the ward, he sped off on his PMA and crashed into a wall. Undeterred, he sped off again and hit a dry wall near the lift lobby, causing more than $500 in damage.
On Feb 26, Tan was arrested near Upper Boon Keng Road and taken to Changi General Hospital, as he was intoxicated on drugs.
As he was in police custody, Tan's hands were restrained. His belongings were sealed in two polymer bags placed near his bed.
Sometime around 3pm, he slipped out of his restraints and verbally threatened the police officer who was watching over him.
He then grabbed one of the polymer bags to retrieve his mobile phone and got in a tussle with the officer, resulting in the bag being torn.
After the officer called for backup, Tan began to hurl vulgarities and threaten another security officer.
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