A LORRY driver who grievously hurt a customs officer who was seated in a stationary car was given the maximum fine of $1,000 and banned from driving for six months on Wednesday.

The victim, Mr Foo Fong Yew, 52, has become paralysed from the neck down since the Jan 20 accident last year.

Han Zhi Kwang, 33, who runs a small construction company, pleaded guilty last month to causing grievous hurt to Mr Foo, who was the driver of an unmarked government vehicle on the left of the three-lane Mandai Road that day.

At the time of the accident, the victim's hazard lights were turned on. After the collision, it veered to the right lane.

Mr Foo, who was then involved in an operation in the area, was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He could not move or feel his upper and lower limbs and an MRI cervical spine showed a pre-existing spinal condition.

Pleading for leniency, Han's lawyer, Mr Shashi Nathan, said the father of one was not speeding then. He said before the accident, Han had seen a group of people coming out of the forest on his left selling contraband cigarettes.

Having been approached by these sellers who dashed out infront of his vehicle previously, he was extra wary of them and gazed in their direction for a few seconds.

He thus failed to notice the victim's vehicle which was further down a gentle slope ahead of him. Even after the accident, Han did not know there was someone sitting inside.

Counsel urged the court not to disqualify his client who needed to deliver construction supplies to and from work sites.

He said his client had visited the victim in hospital many times. He regretted that the accident caused by him had resulted in the victim's current serious medical state.