THOSE who assault public transport workers will be firmly dealt with by the courts, an appeal judge warned on Tuesday as he tripled the jail term of a man who pushed and punched a cabby.

Justice V. K. Rajah was hearing an appeal by Wong Hoi Len, 50, against his sentence of a month?s jail for hurting taxi driver Toon Chin Joon, who later died of a heart attack.

The judge decided to increase Wong's jail term to three months instead.

'We need to send a clear signal that any assault against public transport workers will be firmly dealt with', he said.

Wong, a businessman, had boarded Mr Toon's taxi from Jalan Besar after a drinking session with some friends in May last year.

Just before he reached his home in Jurong West, Wong threw up in the taxi. A scuffle broke out after the cabby got down and scolded Wong.

Wong then pushed the cabby to the ground and the two men struggled but after a while, Mr Toon became motionless.

A passerby called the police and Mr Toon was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.

A forensic pathologist found several bruises on his head and limbs but said the cabby had died of an underlying heart disease.

Mr Toon had a history of thyrocardiac heart disease.

Wong was sentenced to ne month in jail after he pleaded guilty in March to assaulting the cabby. He claimed that Mr Toon had insulted his mother.

On Tuesday, represented by lawyer Tan Siah Yong, he appealed for a lighter sentence, or a fine or one day in jail.

On hearing that his sentence was being enhanced, Wong buried his face in his hands, shaking his head.

Justice Rajah said he could not ignore the fact that the extent of the attack was 'completely disproportionate' to whatever he claimed to have transpired between him and the cabby.

He noted that the charge faced by Wong was 'comparatively modest' in relation to the consequence that flowed from his actions.

Justice Rajah took into account that Wong had volunteered to compensate the cabby's family.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Courts%2Band%2BCrime/STIStory_260263.html