Google Cloud director jailed for drink driving; almost uprooted pole near Supreme Court
The prosecutor said Jonathan David Rees had the means to engage a valet service to get home but instead chose to drive in his intoxicated state despite knowing the law in Singapore.
The almost-uprooted pedestrian beacon pole and the punctured tyres of Jonathan David Rees' car. (Photos: Court documents)
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Lydia Lam
21 Aug 2024 01:05PM
SINGAPORE: A director at Google Cloud was jailed, fined and banned from driving on Wednesday (Aug 21) for driving while drunk and damaging a pole and a sign near the Supreme Court in March.
Australian Jonathan David Rees, 46, was jailed for two weeks, fined S$7,000 and given a 42-month ban from obtaining any driving licence or driving any motor vehicle in Singapore.
Rees had hired Mr Christopher de Souza from Lee & Lee, who argued for a fine for his client instead, or a one-week jail term if the court did not agree to a fine.
Rees pleaded guilty to one count each of drink driving and driving a car without due care and attention under the Road Traffic Act.
The court heard that Rees was with a group of friends at a bar in Robinson Road on the night of Mar 22.
He drank four to five cans of house lager beer, taking his last sip at around 10pm.
He left the bar and drove away in a leased car, making this decision even though he was aware that drink driving was an offence in Singapore, the prosecutor said.
Rees kept to the leftmost lane along Parliament Place at about 11pm as he had intended to turn left into Supreme Court Lane.
However, he did not slow down at the bend or make the turn - instead, he drove straight into a directional sign and a pedestrian beacon pole beside the zebra crossing outside the Supreme Court.
His vehicle mounted the kerb and came to a stop near a lamp post along Parliament Place.
As a result, the beacon pole was almost completely uprooted and the directional sign was dented, said the prosecutor.
Rees' vehicle sustained damage to its front left tyre, and both right tyres were punctured.
Security guards from the Supreme Court rushed to the scene and the traffic police arrived shortly after.
Because Rees' breath smelt of alcohol, an officer conducted a breathalyser test on him, which returned a "red" result, indicating he had consumed alcohol.
Rees was arrested and brought back to the traffic police headquarters, where a breath analysing device found 79 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of his breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
It cost the Land Transport Authority (LTA) S$589.36 to repair the pole and the sign, and Rees made full restitution to LTA.
HIGHLY CULPABLE: PROSECUTOR
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ariel Tan sought three to four weeks' jail for Rees, along with a fine of S$7,000 and a driving ban of three to four years.She said Rees was "highly culpable", consuming four to five cans of beer and driving off less than an hour after his last drink, paying "no mind to his inebriation".
Rees had also mounted a kerb where pedestrians are expected to be walking, and the level of alcohol in his breath was more than double the prescribed limit.
"He could have chosen to do the responsible thing after approximately four hours of drinking, which was to engage a valet service and find alternative transport home," said Ms Tan.
"He clearly had the means to do so, by virtue of his occupation as a director of Google Cloud. Yet, he chose to drive in his intoxicated state despite knowing that drink driving was an offence in Singapore," she added.
She said Rees does not have a clean driving record - he has compounded offences for speeding in 2016 and failing to conform to a red light signal in 2020.
Rees' lawyer, Mr de Souza, said three to four weeks was not appropriate and said case authorities did not support this.
He said it should be less than two weeks, citing cases where other people were given two weeks' jail but did not have as many mitigating factors as his client, or who had more aggravating factors.
He sought a high fine for Rees, citing the "immense stress and hardship" placed on his family and son.
Mr de Souza cited Rees' work in Google, saying "he is not a person who had contributed one, two, three years in Singapore" but who had come here in around 2014.
"He considers this his home," said the lawyer, adding that Rees understands "the error of his ways" and that he did not flee from the scene but instead cooperated with the authorities.
For drink driving, he could have been jailed for up to 12 months and fined between S$2,000 and S$10,000.
