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Jul 22, 2010
Cabby fined over man's death
He ran down Thai worker crossing Kallang Road
<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --> A CITYCAB cabby was so intent on looking out for customers that he ran down a Thai worker along Kallang Road at about 3.30am on July 22 last year. Although the traffic lights at the pedestrian crossing were in the taxi's favour, a group of four Thai construction workers were crossing the road. Mr Khwathijak Amornsak, 38, who was walking in front of his friends, was the only one hit.
The cabby stopped and drove the severely injured Thai and his three friends to Raffles Hospital. Mr Amornsak was by then unconscious and not breathing. Resuscitation attempts by medical proved futile and he was declared dead at 4.15am. On Thursday, the cabby, Lester Fernandez Ng, 50, was fined $8,000 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for five years for causing the death by a negligent act.
Investigations revealed that the Thais had been drinking beer at a coffee shop in Beach Road and were walking back to their dormitory in Kallang Road. Pleading for leniency for Ng, defence counsel N.K. Rajarh said that his client, a divorcee, was a bankrupt and driving the taxi was his only source of income. His hiring arrangements with CityCab had been terminated a day after the accident and Ng has been unemployed since.
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Read the full story in Friday's edition of the Straits Times.
