Motorist gets 2 weeks' jail, 5-year driving ban for causing death of elderly pedestrian

Cheng Chek Lim was jailed for two weeks and banned from driving for five years for causing the death of an elderly pedestrian while making a right turn. PHOTO: ST GRAPHICS

SINGAPORE - A motorist who failed to keep a proper lookout and caused the death of an elderly pedestrian while making a right turn was jailed for two weeks and banned from driving for five years on Wednesday (June 22).

Cheng Chek Lim, 51, admitted failing to notice Madam Hoe Chwee Yee alias Hoe Ah Chwee, 74, while making a right turn from East Coast Avenue into Siglap Road and colliding into her on Aug 7 last year.

Madam Hoe, a housewife, suffered severe multiple injuries, including a fractured skull, and was sent to Changi General Hospital. She died 12 days later.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sarah Ong told the court that Cheng left home with his wife in his car at about 3pm that day.

When he arrived at the T-junction of East Coast Avenue by Siglap Road, he stopped the car slightly after the stop-line. He intended to make a right turn into Siglap Road towards the East Coast Parkway (ECP).

He waited for about 20 seconds before making the turn. He neither kept a proper lookout nor noticed Madam Hoe, who was walking across Siglap Road. The car hit her somewhere around the centre divider and she fell backwards, onto the road.

Cheng and his wife called for an ambulance and the police respectively.

Cheng could have been jailed for up to two years and fined for causing death by doing a negligent act.

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