Singapore jails unruly, drunk Australian for six months
August 31 2017 11:01 AM
Drunk Australian assaults police at Singapore Airport
Drunk Australian assaults police at Singapore Airport


A Singapore court on Thursday sentenced an Australian man to 6-1/2 months in jail for assaulting airport police officers and other offences during a two-week drunken binge.

Handcuffed with his feet in chains, Jason Peter Darragh, 44, pled guilty in Singapore State Court to four charges, including one count of using criminal force.

The catalogue of misdemeanours began on April 20 at Singapore's Changi Airport when Darragh assaulted a policeman while on a stopover en route to Cebu, Philippines.

The next day, Darragh was charged for causing ‘annoyance’ to a member of the public at the city-state's party district and for using ‘abusive words’ to a police officer.

He was finally charged on May 1 with ‘causing annoyance’ to a woman by ‘loitering’ around a taxi stand with his hand over his crotch.

Judge Tan Jen Tse said that he had to impose an ‘appropriate sentence to deter like-minded people from assaulting our police officers’.

Darragh was held in remand since May despite being offered bail of S$20,000 ($14,730). His lawyer, S.S. Dhillon said that he had refused bail to ‘reflect’ on his actions.

He was originally charged with 11 offences in April, but the court only proceeded with four, although the others were taken into account during sentencing.

The charges he pled guilty to include physically and verbally abusing police officers and ‘causing annoyance’ in a public place while drunk.

His lawyer told the court that the defendant was depressed and turned to alcohol after separating with his wife and two children.

Darragh's parents had flown from Perth to attend the hearing and were able to speak with him through a window in the court. They declined to comment outside the court.

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