UPDATE (10pm): SBS Transit confirmed that the incident happened at 10am on 23 May. Following the altercation, police arrested a 40-year-old man for public nuisance and voluntarily causing hurt.
You can read the full statement below.
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On Sunday (23 May), several commuters on the MRT bore witness to a physical altercation involving 2 men.
A video of the assault, filmed by a commuter, was shared on Facebook and quickly went viral, garnering over 1,300 shares in less than 2 hours.
The video of the incident started circulating on social media late Sunday (23 May) afternoon, showing an assault on the MRT.
It appears to have happened on the Downtown Line, right before the train arrived at Rochor station.
In the 14-second video, a man dressed in black can be seen holding down a man in grey who was on the ground.
He then rained a series of kicks on the victim as the victim tried to protect his face with his hands.
At this point, a woman seated opposite them grabbed her belongings and walked away.
A few other commuters could also be seen looking on from afar.
However, the man dressed in black was undeterred as he rained blows on the victim, who was already lying on the ground with his back facing his assailant.
The man on the ground could be heard yelling in pain as the pummelling went on.
Following that, the man even elbowed the man on his back, just as the video cuts off.
In response to MS News‘ queries, SBS Transit corporate communications senior vice president Tammy Tan said:
The incident happened this morning at 10am aboard a Downtown Line train heading towards Bukit Panjang.
Our staff onboard was alerted to a commotion and he immediately proceeded to the incident train car. He saw the victim alone and asked if he needed medical assistance.
The latter however declined any assistance and said that the aggressor had already alighted.
He insisted he was fine and proceeded on with his journey. We will share our CCTV footage with the police for their investigations.
According to STOMP, police were alerted to the incident but when they arrived, the people involved were no longer at the scene.
Subsequently, they managed to identify and arrest a 40-year-old man for public nuisance. He is also being investigated for voluntarily causing hurt.
Preliminary investigations found that the man had gotten into a dispute with a 24-year-old when they were on the train, which resulted in the older man allegedly assaulting the younger victim once things escalated.
Investigations are ongoing.
Many commuters may find themselves in a helpless position when witnessing unlawful or suspicious behaviours on the MRT.
According to SBS Transit’s website, you may alert their staff, dial 999 for the police or report via the SGSecure app immediately.
At MRT stations, you can approach SBS Transit staff at the Passenger Service Centre.
When you’re on the train, you can approach the Customer Service Officer on duty or activate the Passenger Emergency Communication button, which is located at alternate doors of the train.
Using the button, you’ll be able to speak to one of their staff at the Operations Control Centre.
As of now, it is unclear what caused the altercation. Nevertheless, we mustn’t resort to violence when we encounter difficult situations.
Physical assault may be counted as voluntarily causing harm to another person, which is a punishable offence in the eyes of the law.
We hope the authorities would get to the bottom of the incident quickly and that the victim could receive the help he needed in time.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at hello@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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