River Valley fatal accident: Maid charged with rash act over death of 4-year-old girl
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The girl was walking to her River Valley home after pre-school with her two-year-old sister and their maid when a car came from around the street corner and knocked her down.
PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
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Editor’s note: Details identifying the victim and her family members in this story have been removed due to a gag order imposed by the court on Oct 15, 2025.
SINGAPORE - An Indonesian maid was charged on Nov 6 with causing grievous hurt by performing a rash act in an accident in River Valley that killed a four-year-old girl
Lilyana Eva, 32, is accused of committing the offence shortly before 5pm on Jan 23.
According to court documents, she allegedly failed to ensure the safety of the girl that day by taking her to cross a road at an unsignalised junction without holding on to the child.
As a result, the girl ran across the road and was seriously injured after a car struck her. She died later that day.
On July 12, in Coroner Eddy Tham’s findings into her death
She had walked a short distance ahead of the maid, who was carrying school bags and holding the hand of the girl’s two-year-old sister.
As they crossed Institution Hill in River Valley, the four-year-old ran ahead of the maid.
Coroner Tham said the girl, who was just 1m tall, was completely obscured by a stationary vehicle nearby. He added: “The maid saw oncoming traffic on the second lane, but it was too late. By then, the car had collided into (the girl) and tragically ran over her body.”
He also found that the car driver, a 40-year-old Australian woman, who was arrested after the incident, could not have detected the child’s presence as she ran across the road.
The woman was driving home after picking up her two children from school. She suddenly felt her car had hit and gone over something. She realised the vehicle had hit a child when she checked her rear-view mirror.
Lilyana and the driver rushed towards the girl, who was bleeding from her nose and mouth.
The maid called the girl’s father who rushed to the scene. A receptionist working in a nearby school called for an ambulance.
After the girl was taken to Singapore General Hospital, doctors told her parents she was unlikely to survive.
She was pronounced dead at 6.45pm that day. The autopsy revealed the cause of her death was a head injury.
During the coroner’s inquiry, Traffic Police Station Inspector (SI) Muhammad Firdaus Suleiman had testified that it was not the first time the maid had used this route to jaywalk with the children after picking them up from pre-school.
He said the girl’s parents had reminded her not to cross the road in Institution Hill as it would be jaywalking, but she did so despite their warnings.
Lilyana had begun working for the family in October 2023. Through an Indonesian interpreter, she told the court on Nov 6 that she intends to engage a lawyer. Her case has been adjourned to Nov 13.
Offenders convicted of causing grievous hurt to another person while performing a rash act can be jailed for up to four years and fined up to $10,000.
Seventy-three people died in the first half of 2024
