Repeat offender jailed for assaulting colleague in Coleman Street, causing brain injury

SINGAPORE - A recalcitrant offender who has been in and out of jail for crimes including assault, is back behind bars after he punched a colleague, causing a traumatic brain injury.

This current case involved Muhammad Adli Amran’s fourth violence-related conviction.

Even though the 47-year-old victim has recovered, he still has not regained his sense of smell.

Adli, 31, was also involved in an unrelated case in which a company obtained work passes for nine foreigners when it did not employ them.

On Aug 31, Adli was sentenced to nine months and 22 weeks’ jail, and a fine of $1,200.

He had pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, and an offence under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

For the assault case, the court heard that Adli was a bouncer at a Coleman Street nightspot while the older man was a manager there.

A commotion involving other individuals took place inside the club in the wee hours of May 3, 2025, and the victim yelled at Adli over the way he had handled the situation.

The two intoxicated men got into an altercation, and Adli punched the victim, who fell and hit a glass panel.

Their colleagues called for an ambulance and Adli was arrested.

At the hospital, it was discovered the victim had suffered a traumatic brain injury, which caused him to lose his sense of smell.

He was later given hospitalisation leave until May 17, 2025.

In an unrelated case in 2022, the court heard that Adli had a discussion with two people, including one “Ah Boy” about opening a restaurant with singers.

Adli handed Ah Boy pictures of his identity card, and the latter made Adli the registered director of a company called Chira King.

The two men later had a dispute over Adli’s proposed share in the business.

Ministry of Manpower (MOM) prosecutors Mohd Fadhli and Melanie Tan stated in court documents that Ah Boy took over and ran Chira King. Adli did not participate in its decision-making, and was unaware of its operations.

From around mid-2023 to July 2024, Ah Boy would occasionally send Adli QR codes through WhatsApp, asking him to scan them.

On other occasions, Adli received QR codes from an unknown telephone number.

He also provided Ah Boy with one-time passwords to facilitate logins.

The MOM prosecutors said Adli knew that Ah Boy was making work pass applications for foreigners.

Yet, he continued to scan the QR codes and provide the one-time passwords whenever Ah Boy asked him to do so, without ascertaining the work pass transactions being carried out under his name.

By doing so, Adli had allowed others to access and use his Singpass and Chira King’s Corppass details for work pass transactions.

Corppass serves as the digital identity used to access MOM’s work pass system, and allows a business to apply for a work pass, the court heard.

On multiple occasions between February and July 2024, work passes linked to Chira King were obtained for nine foreigners.

However, the company did not employ them, and Adli did not even know where they worked.

However, he received $100 in cash each month from other parties including Ah Boy between mid-2023 and July 2024.

MOM arrested Adli in September 2024.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.