Driver jailed 2 weeks for killing elderly woman at pedestrian crossing
Aug 12, 2015 6:00am
By RONALD LOH
He was making a right turn onto Jurong Town Hall Road when he failed to spot the elderly woman crossing the road.
His car ploughed into her, flinging her onto his windscreen before she landed on the road.
Madam Leong Yew Choo, 65, died hours later in hospital.
Yesterday, logistics manager Kuah Kok Hoon, 47, was sentenced to two weeks' jail and banned from driving for five years for the negligent act on Sept 16 last year.
At 8.10pm that day, Kuah was driving on the rightmost of three lanes of Jurong East Central Road.
He stopped his vehicle at a traffic junction as he prepared to make a right turn onto Jurong Town Hall Road. Kuah's car was the first vehicle at the stop line and he had an unobstructed view of the pedestrian crossing at the junction.
When the lights turned green in his favour, he made a right turn but failed to keep a proper lookout and spot Madam Leong, who was midway through a pedestrian crossing with the green man flashing in her favour.
A witness, who was in a car behind Kuah, said Kuah did not slow down or brake when he made the right turn.
After the collision, Madam Leong was seen in a semi-conscious state and breathing heavily.
She was also suffering serious head injuries and was taken unconscious to National University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10.20pm.
SKULL FRACTURE
An autopsy revealed that she suffered a skull fracture and brain injury.
Yesterday, District Judge Salina Ishak said that the accident had occurred at a pedestrian crossing where Madam Leong had the right of way.
The judge added that the court has emphasised that motorists should look out for pedestrians - a duty that Kuah had failed to do.
While the judge noted that the weather was fine and visibility was fair, she accepted that shadows cast by some nearby trees could have compromised Kuah's view - a mitigating factor that Kuah's lawyer had earlier raised.
For committing a negligent act resulting in death not amounting to culpable homicide, Kuah could have been jailed up to two years and/or fined.
