Court case over 2019 crash that killed 2 maids adjourned

The case of a man who was allegedly involved in the 2019 Lucky Plaza crash that killed two women has been adjourned for a pre-trial conference on Aug 20.

Malaysian Chong Kim Hoe, now 65, who appeared in a district court yesterday, was earlier expected to plead guilty.

But no plea was taken, as he had disputed certain portions of the court documents.

Details about the disputed parts were not revealed in court yesterday.

Chong is accused of driving a car near Lucky Plaza in 2019 when it ploughed into six Filipino women, killing two of them.

The other four were injured, three of them grievously.

In September last year, the Singapore permanent resident was charged with three counts of dangerous driving.

Chong had allegedly pressed the accelerator as he was making a U-turn on Nutmeg Road behind the Orchard Road shopping mall around 5pm on Dec 29, 2019.

He then allegedly drove onto a footpath, crashed through a guard rail and reached a Lucky Plaza service road, hitting the six women.

Ms Abigail Danao Leste, 41, and Ms Arlyn Picar Nucos, 50, died.

Ms Egnal Layugan Limbauan and Ms Laila Flores Laudencia, both 44, and Ms Arceli Picar Nucos, 56, suffered grievous hurt.

Ms Demet Limbauan Limbauan, 37, was also injured.

Ms Arlyn Picar Nucos was Ms Arceli Picar Nucos' sister. All six worked as maids.

The manager of a Lucky Plaza travel agency, Mr Daniel Mendoza, then 34, had told The Straits Times that he was on a pavement near the shopping mall when the accident occurred.

He added: "Everyone was of course shocked and many were screaming 'help, God, help, God'."

A video that appears to be footage of the accident taken from closed-circuit television cameras had also made the rounds online.

Following the crash, more than $360,000 was raised for the victims in an online fund-raiser that closed on Jan 6 last year.

The Centre for Domestic Employees, together with the Domestic Employees Welfare Fund, had collected the sum from nearly 3,000 donors in about a week, according to figures on fund-raising website Giving.sg.

The money was to go directly towards helping the four injured maids and the dependants of the two dead women.