Man jailed 4 weeks for allowing colleague to take the rap in fatal traffic accident

SINGAPORE – After his car was involved in a fatal collision with a power-assisted bicycle, a man lied to the police that he was not the driver and allowed his colleague to take the rap.

His colleague later confessed to lying, and the man admitted he was the one behind the wheel.

On Dec 1, Teo Kok Meng, 39, was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of obstructing the course of justice.

Another charge of giving false information to a public servant was considered for his sentencing.

The accident happened around 10pm on Sept 27, 2022, and claimed the life of Mr Samuel Seet Wei Jie, a 28-year-old food delivery rider.

The court heard that at around 8pm that day, Teo met his colleague Jacky Tan Kah Kiat and his girlfriend, Ms Aileen Soh Xiao Juan, both 35.

The trio drank alcohol and ate at a coffee shop in Bukit Batok and left near 10pm. Teo drove Tan to his home in Teck Whye Avenue, with Ms Soh in the front passenger seat.

After dropping off Tan, Teo continued driving along Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1 and his car collided with Mr Seet as he emerged from the slip road on Teo’s left.

While paramedics were attending to Mr Seet at the scene, Teo called Tan to tell him about the accident. Tan walked from his home to the scene to join Teo and Ms Soh.

There, both Teo and Ms Soh claimed they did not know who had driven the car.

Teo told the Traffic Police (TP) investigation officer (IO) that he was not the driver. Tan then lied to the IO that he had driven the car.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamed Riasudeen said Tan said this to shield Teo from criminal responsibility.

Teo, Tan and Ms Soh failed their breathalyser tests. All three were arrested for drink-driving and careless driving.

During his statement recording on Sept 28, Teo maintained the lie. But Tan later admitted to the IO that he had lied and Teo was the real driver.

Teo came clean when the IO recorded a further statement from him the same day.

Tan was

jailed for three weeks in March

after pleading guilty to one count of obstructing the course of justice.

Court documents do not state if Ms Soh faces any criminal liability.

A coroner court’s report on Nov 14 noted that the TP concluded

there was insufficient evidence to show that Teo was responsible for the accident.

The accident was not caught on any CCTV nor the car’s in-vehicle camera as its memory card was corrupted.

There were also no independent witnesses, and the only person who saw the collision and could testify was Teo. Ms Soh said she had been using her phone and did not see what happened.

When Teo had his breath alcohol tested at the TP headquarters, his reading was 16 micrograms per 100ml of breath, which is below the legal limit of 35 micrograms.

DPP Riasudeen said the fact that Teo is not charged with any offence under the Road Traffic Act does not detract from his culpability.

“This is because the accused had deliberately lied with full awareness that this could potentially hinder the police’s investigations into his criminal liability for the accident,” said the prosecutor.

Adding that Teo had a moral duty to prevent Tan from being arrested, DPP Riasudeen said: “He knew (Tan) was accepting the blame on his behalf and he knew that would get him arrested, and he kept quiet.”

In mitigation, Teo’s lawyer Mr Gogulakannan Suppayya said this case was not a planned move to obstruct justice, adding: “It was a spontaneous, foolish decision on the part of my client.”