Embassy car in hit-and-run

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Ang moh wins again man.

 

[Zuo Ci]

May 20, 2011

Witness picks Ionescu out from line-up

By Khushwant Singh

The former Romanian Embassy charge d'affaires in Singapore, Silviu Ionescu (above), arrives on March 9, 2011 at the tribunal in Bucharest for a new hearing in his trial. He was identified by a witness in Singapore as the driver of a hit-and-run car via videolink from a five-man line-up in a Romanian court on Friday. -- PHOTO: AFP

A WITNESS in Singapore identified the driver of a hit-and-run car via videolink from a five-man line-up in a Romanian court on Friday.

Mr Ricarno Izaan Lachica, 22, a full-time national serviceman, said Silviu Ionescu - the country's former charge d'affairs here - was behind the wheel of the embassy car.

The Singaporean, who witnessed the accident in the early hours of Dec 15, 2009, testified that he had identified the driver a day after the accident from a large number of photographs shown to him by two police officers. He said that there was no one else present then but added that the proceedings had been videotaped. Under cross-examination by Ionescu, Mr Lachica denied he had seen a picture of the Romanian in The New Paper before he met the police.

Ionescu, 51, has been on trial in a Bucharest court since Oct 5, 2010 for manslaughter, causing physical injuries and making false statements. The former diplomat, who fled Singapore for home, is alleged to have hit three pedestrians while driving a black Audi A6 belonging to the Romanian mission in 2009, and to have left the scene. The accidents left one pedestrian dead and two more injured.

Ionescu, who returned to Romania three days after the accident, denies he was the driver and said the car had been stolen while he was working at the embassy at about the time of the accident. But Mr Chan Kian Ann, 44, the former workshop manager with Premium Automobile Singapore - where the damaged car was sent to - said that he had not heard of an Audi car being stolen here. His colleague Boo Seng Yak, 56, an assessor, told the court that the car's locking system was in working condition and appeared 'intact'.

This is the last day of the videolink proceedings. Before transmission ended, Judge Andras said that the judicial inquiry in Romania would continue collecting other evidence and probably recall some witnesses.

 

[lianbeng]

lianbeng says, "now boy george very free liao tell him go n collect that bugger back here."