SINGAPORE — A 54-year-old Grab driver almost knocked down a 12-year-old girl, then got into a scuffle with the girl’s 67-year-old grandfather. 

Liew Loke Yin punched Kow Hong Chiew after Kow, a taxi driver, “bumped” Liew’s car bonnet forcefully. 

Liew was fined S$7,000 and banned for driving for three months on Thursday (Sept 19) after pleading guilty to causing alarm to the girl by failing to keep a lookout while driving and voluntarily causing hurt to Kow in the Oct 5, 2018 incident.

Grab said that he is no longer driving for the company.

Kow has also been charged with mischief in relation to the incident.

Kow’s granddaughter, Raelyn, was crossing a car park service road of a housing estate in Jurong East at 6.25am when Liew was driving into the car park.

While Liew was accelerating, he glanced at his mobile phone and did not notice Raelyn. 

Liew managed to stop his car in the nick of time, preventing a collision.

Unhappy with the near collision, Kow confronted Liew, who then stepped out of the vehicle. The matter escalated from a heated argument into a scuffle after Liew grabbed Kow’s neck.

Liew then punched Kow in the scuffle, causing him to fall. 

Kow lodged a police report afterwards and sought medical treatment at Ng Teng Fong Hospital for blunt trauma to his left eye, a minor head injury, a bruise on the chest and some knee abrasions.

Liew also admitted to another charge of driving a vehicle without reasonable consideration for others on the road in a separate incident.

At about 11.30am on Jan 18 this year, Liew’s car rolled forward and collided into Mr Tan Tua Tee, 90. 

Mr Tan, who fell as a result of the collision, had to be hospitalised for three days. He was sent to Raffles Hospital where he received treatment for a fractured kneecap and abrasions on his knee, forearm and elbow. 

When sentencing Liew, District Judge Marvin Bay said that there was "considerable belligerence on the part of both men", referring to the October incident. 

But the judge stressed that Liew had initiated the physical altercation although Kow was the one who reacted rather strongly to the near collision by forcefully bumping his bonnet, which caused some S$380 in damage.

District Judge Bay also said Liew should “reflect on the consequences of (his) less than exemplary manner of driving”, noting that one near collision and one actual collision had taken place in the matter of three months.

Liew opted to pay his fine by instalments.