SINGAPORE - A Malaysian family could not attend court because of Covid-19 travel restrictions to hear what happened to a relative who died in an accident last year.

A family friend of carpenter Heng Lay Peng - Mr Tan Hock Choon - was there on Wednesday (Sept 23) instead, as Traffic Police investigating officer Mohamed Yazid Mohamed Yusoff recounted the tragic events that unfolded on Dec 16, 2019.

At about 8.45am, the Malaysian was riding his motorcycle along the Seletar Expressway (SLE) towards the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), on his way to work in Sembawang, when the car in front of him stopped abruptly.

Footage played in court, taken by in-car cameras from various vehicles, showed Mr Heng swerving to the left before colliding into the rear left of the car.

Mr Heng was then flung off his motorcycle at least two car lengths into the path of an oncoming trailer, which ran over him. The 45-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, a coroner's inquiry heard.

According to an autopsy report, Mr Heng had "multiple injuries consistent with a motor vehicle collision".

The police had in December last year urged the public to stop disseminating gory footage of the accident.

The court heard that the car Mr Heng crashed into had also collided into the rear of another car. The accident happened near the Upper Thomson exit.

Mechanical inspections of the trailer, Mr Heng's motorcycle, and the car in front of his motorcycle, found no evidence to suggest that the vehicles were faulty.

Reading out a message on behalf of Mr Heng's family, Mr Tan said that his friend was a good man and son, and a law-abiding foreign worker who had spent 20 years working in Singapore.

State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam said she will deliver her findings on Thursday.