SINGAPORE - An elderly taxi driver who reversed into a student and pinned her under his car was fined $4,000 and banned from driving for three years on Monday.
Thow Ngok Sen, 69, had been performing a U-turn when he changed his mind and reversed, and backed into 22-year-old Ms Abigail Ow Hui Xia who had been sitting on a kerb at a Bishan bus stop with her boyfriend.
He mounted the kerb and ran into her as she tried to get out of the way, knocking her over. A passer-by told Thow to move his cab forward to free her but his tyre ran over her thigh.
Ms Ow spent two months in hospital for spinal injuries and fractures to her pelvic area and now cannot walk unaided.
The court heard that Thow had parked his cab to rest at the bus stop on Bishan Street 11 at around 2.20am on March 13 last year and was about to return home.
He admitted causing grievous hurt by failing to have proper control of his vehicle.
District Judge Michelle Yap said Thow, who walks with a stick, had been highly negligent. He was allowed to pay $500 and the balance by monthly instalments of $500.
Thow could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined up to $5,000 for causing grievous hurt through a negligent act to endanger life.
