SINGAPORE - A Nanyang Technological University (NTU) associate professor was sentenced on Thursday (Sept 24) to five days' jail after his car hit a motorcyclist, who suffered multiple fractures.
Lau Kim Teen was also disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for two years.
A check on the NTU website shows the Malaysian, who is a Singapore permanent resident, is from its Centre for Professional and Continuing Education. He had also served as a programme director for two Master of Science programmes.
The website states: "He currently teaches courses in electronics and integrated circuit design at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
"His current research activities are focused on low power integrated circuits and applications."
The 61-year-old pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt while driving in a negligent manner.
The court heard that shortly before the accident on Dec 30, 2018, Lau had gone for dinner at a Pioneer Road eatery, downed some beer and left at around 8.45pm.
He was driving the car for about 10 minutes when he reached a traffic light at a T-junction between Jurong West Street 93 and Jurong West Street 92.
At around the same time, Mr Naresh Balan, 24, was riding his motorcycle in the opposite direction and had gone straight ahead, as the green light was in his favour.
Lau failed to keep a proper lookout while making a discretionary right turn and did not give way to Mr Naresh.
The car collided with the motorcycle and Mr Naresh briefly lost consciousness after he fell off his vehicle.
A passer-by alerted the police and Lau waited at the scene for officers to arrive. Police turned up soon after and an officer noticed that he smelt of alcohol.
Lau was arrested and taken to a police station, where he was found to have 15 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. This is below the prescribed limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath.
An ambulance rushed Mr Naresh to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital where he was diagnosed with injuries including fractures to his right thigh and right wrist.
He was hospitalised until Jan 4 last year, the court heard.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said: "The victim continues to suffer from immobility in his right wrist and his left thumb due to the incident.
"He is... still undergoing physiotherapy treatment pending surgery to remove implants in his right hand and right leg."
Responding to queries on Friday, NTU said that it expects all members of its community to "uphold the highest ethical standards and to obey the law at all times".
An NTU spokesman also said that Lau is undergoing disciplinary proceedings.
For causing grievous hurt by negligent driving, an offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.