Firm director fined $4,000 for pub fight over racist comments

At 11.30pm on Nov 27, 2010, project manager Richard Jonathan Mills told Alexander Lincoln Chew Yew Wah that there was a dry-cleaning tag still attached to his coat.

Both men were then at the Filter Club in Gallery Hotel at Robertson Quay.

Some time later, Mr Mills was waiting in line for the club's toilet when Chew bumped into him while attempting to jump the queue.

At about 1am on Nov 28, 2010, a dispute broke out and Chew, 27, threw several punches that fell the other man. Bouncers stepped in and police were called in.

In a district court on Tuesday, Chew was fined $4,000.

He had pleaded guilty to causing hurt to Mr Mills.

The Briton had to be warded for two days at the Singapore General Hospital. He had sustained cuts near his right eye and a computed tomography (CT) brain scan also indicated damaged tissue caused by the punches he received at 12.30am on Nov 28, 2010.

Asking the court not to impose a jail sentence, defence counsel Shashi Nathan said that his client had been provoked.

Mr Mills had hurled racist comments by telling Chew to go back to China and to go back to the Laundromat where Chew works.

The court also heard that in Western countries, Asians often managed laundry outlets.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew said that he did not consider the comments derogatory.

But District Judge Ronald Gwee disagreed, saying: 'What they mean is that you don?t belong here so go back to the country you came from and go back to the Laundromat you worked at.'

Chew, a 2009 business management graduate from the Singapore Management University, runs his own firm, Status Sport, which imports sports supplements.