Man has jail term raised for assault of underage driver over accident that victim caused
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The victim was first assaulted at an HDB block before he was taken to Lim Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery where the confrontation continued.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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- A 17-year-old was assaulted for failing to repay $8,400 incurred after illegally renting a car and causing an accident.
- One assailant's jail term increased to 23 months, plus caning and a fine, after prosecutors appealed over a rioting charge.
- The victim suffered injuries during his ordeal that lasted two days.
AI generated
SINGAPORE - A 17-year-old boy who caused a traffic accident after borrowing money to rent a car was assaulted by a group of six people when he failed to repay the $8,400 in costs incurred.
The victim was first assaulted at an HDB block on Nov 25, 2024, before he was taken to Lim Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery, where he was repeatedly punched in a confrontation that lasted two hours.
On Sept 5, one of the assailants, a 22-year-old man, had his jail term for a rioting charge increased by the High Court from 13 months to 18 months following an appeal by the prosecution.
This meant his total sentence was increased to 23 months’ jail, one stroke of the cane, and a fine of $800.
The man had pleaded guilty to four other charges aside from the rioting charge.
He was also banned from driving for a year starting from the date of conviction and for two years starting from the date of his release.
He is the second person in the group to be sentenced. The other cases are pending.
The assailants are not named because any information leading to the identification of individuals under the age of 18 cannot be published under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The victim had borrowed $200 from another boy of the same age to rent a car.
He then paid a 23-year-old woman to rent the vehicle on his behalf.
The minimum age to get a driving licence in Singapore is 18.
While driving the rented vehicle, he collided with a motorcycle and incurred costs of $8,400, for which the woman had to pay.
His parents paid $1,000 to his two creditors – the woman and the boy of the same age – and asked them to divide it between them.
The victim was unable to pay the remaining amount and became uncontactable.
On Nov 25, 2024, the two creditors roped in the accomplices to confront the victim about the amount he owed them.
They took him to the staircase landing of a block of flats, where they punched and kicked him.
After being spotted by residents in the opposite block, they booked private-hire vehicles to the cemetery.
There, the victim was made to call his mother and ask her for $2,000.
After she said she had no money and had lodged a police report, they assaulted him.
One of them told him to strip.
The assault stopped when a vehicle passed by.
The group split up, and the victim was taken to Ang Mo Kio, where he continued to be assaulted, this time by a friend of the woman.
The victim was later confined at the man’s flat, and was allowed to leave only at about 5pm on Nov 27.
A police report was lodged at 3.10am on Nov 28.
The victim suffered bruises over his ears and cheek, puncture marks over the back of his neck and abrasions on his head and ear.
On June 5, the first offender, who was 19 years old at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to one charge of rioting and was sentenced to eight months’ jail and one stroke of the cane.
On June 18, the 22-year-old pleaded guilty to five charges, one each for rioting, causing hurt to the victim, stealing a car in a separate incident, driving without a licence, and driving without insurance.
On Sept 5, Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lee appealed only in relation to his sentence of 13 months’ jail and one stroke of the cane for rioting.
He argued that 13 months was “out of sync” with precedents, and sought a term of 18 months instead.
DPP Lee said the district judge had placed too much weight on the fact that the first assailant was given eight months’ jail.
After Justice See Kee Oon sought clarification about the other offender, it emerged that the 19-year-old had been released from reformative training on a supervision order when he assaulted the victim.
Because of the new offence, he was recalled to the reformative training centre, and the judge who sentenced him took into account the six months he had spent in custody.
Justice See noted this fact was not surfaced to the district judge who later sentenced the 22-year-old.
He agreed with the prosecution that 13 months’ jail was out of step with precedents.
The Straits Times understands the victim is under investigation for possible traffic offences.
