A recalcitrant drug offender with previous convictions for methamphetamine consumption is back behind bars after he used a stun device to hurt two policemen during his arrest.
The officers had confronted Muhammed Firdaus Amir Musa in October 2023 after he failed to observe traffic rules while driving a car.
It turned out that he had been disqualified from holding all classes of driving licences for five years – from April 2022 to April 2027 – due to previous undisclosed offences.
Firdaus was released on bail in June 2024, but reoffended four months later when he was found with a 40cm-long knife in his possession in a common corridor near his home.
On Aug 13, the 40-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to seven years, two months and 14 weeks’ jail, and 10 strokes of the cane.
He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for 10 years from his release date.
He had pleaded guilty to multiple charges including assaulting a public servant, being in possession of weapons, drug consumption, and traffic offences.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yeo Zhen Xiong told the court that in May 2018, Firdaus was convicted of consumption of methamphetamine, or Ice, and was ordered to spend 10 months behind bars.
Three years later, he was convicted of abusing the same drug and was sentenced to three years’ jail. Following his release, he unlawfully drove a car in the Kallang area in the wee hours of Oct 29, 2023, and a policeman spotted him going straight even though he was in a right turning lane.
The officer, who was in a patrol car with his colleague, flashed the blinkers to signal him to stop.
Firdaus initially complied, stopping the vehicle before the junction of Kallang Road and Jalan Sultan.
A second policeman, who alighted to take Firdaus’ identity card, instructed him to drive straight ahead and park after the junction. This time, Firdaus refused to comply. He drove into Jalan Sultan, alighted and ran away, prompting the two policemen to give chase.
Firdaus, who had two knuckle dusters and a sword at the time, was in the back alley of a nearby property when he lost his footing and fell. The policemen then tried to restrain him.
“When struggling, the accused reached into his belt area and took out a stun device,” DPP Yeo said. “The accused used the stun device three to four times on (the lower back of one officer).”
He also used the device on the other officer twice – once on a finger of his left hand and once on his lower left shin.
Despite this, the two policemen managed to subdue and arrest Firdaus. He was found with multiple packets of a crystalline substance containing methamphetamine. His urine samples were later found to contain traces of the drug.
He was held in remand till June 2024 when he was released on bail. But on Oct 1 that year, he was found with a 40cm-long knife in a common corridor near his home, which he shared with his former wife. The woman, her boyfriend and the man’s brother-in-law went to the unit to retrieve her belongings, which Firdaus had left outside.
The woman wanted to enter the flat to check if any of her belongings were left inside, but he refused to open the door. She then called for police assistance at around 9.30pm.
Court documents stated that Firdaus, armed with the knife, opened the door and stepped into the common corridor.
He was arguing with his former wife when officers arrived to arrest him.
Shaffiq Alkhatib for The Straits Times
Repeat drug offender who used stun device on two cops jailed, fined
