Jail for fitness trainer who tried to evade the police by driving backwards, jumping out of car

SINGAPORE - A fitness trainer panicked when approaching a police roadblock and started to drive backwards against the flow of traffic, ignoring a police order to stop.

Mohd Amirudin Mohd Shafiee, who had no driving licence and was out on bail, drove dangerously along Kallang Road for 2.6km to Lorong 14 Geylang. There, he abandoned the car by jumping out of the moving car with a passenger still inside. The car moved forward for 10 to 15m before coming to a halt after hitting the gate of a house at Lorong 14.

On Monday (Nov 13), the 35-year-old was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail, fined $3,000 and banned from driving for three years after he admitted to eight charges.

These included: driving without a licence, taking away a car without the owner's consent, driving without insurance coverage, drug taking and possession.

Seven other charges were considered during his sentencing.

The court heard that Amirudin was driving a car along MacKenzie Road at around 1am on Jan 19, 2017, when he was stopped at a roadblock.

Asked for his driving licence, he told the police officer he did not have it with him.

When the officer signalled him to move his car to the side for checks, Amirudin inched his vehicle forward instead and sped off from the road block.Two police officers gave chase and arrested him at the basement carpark of Scotts Square, Scotts Road.

While out on police bail, Amirudin was driving along Kallang Road towards the direction of Victoria Street with a passenger at around 2am on Feb 14 when he joined a queue behind other vehicles approaching a police roadblock.

Sergeant Siti Zahirah, then riding a police motorcycle with the blinkers and siren on, was approaching Amirudin to ask him to stop when he drove away against the flow of traffic. Sgt Zahirah gave chase.

Amirudin made a U-turn near the Old Terminal Lane and drove along Kallang Road, still against the flow of traffic, towards Sims Way and Geylang Road junction where he ran the red light. He weaved in and out of traffic between vehicles and sped at 80 to 90kmh.

The court heard that he continued driving dangerously to Lorong 14 before he abandoned the car and escaped on foot.

Further investigation showed that he had earlier driven the car without the consent of the owner, Mr Chua Jinfeng.

After giving Amirudin a ride to Toa Payoh North on Feb 13, Mr Chua handed the car keys to Amirudin and asked him to lock the car as he attended to his child. Mr Chua, who forgot to retrieve the car keys from Amirudin, did not permit him to take and drive away his car. But Amirudin did so as he was late for work.

District Judge Wong Li Tein noted several aggravating factors. She said Amirudin had not learnt from his punishment for his past records.She backdated his jail sentence to Sept 23.

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