Former part-time Uber driver jailed for causing death of passenger

[wafflebacon]

SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old passenger was headed for a church along Chapel Road, near Katong, presumably for Sunday church service, around 7am. But he never made it.

Fatigue had caught up with the driver of the Uber car, Muhammad Khalis Muhammad Rizauddin, who lost control of his vehicle along Xilin Avenue and careened into a tree, killing Batocabe Jan Wendell Castilla.

For causing the Filipino’s death by a negligent act, Khalis was on Monday (Sept 10) sentenced to four weeks’ jail and five years’ disqualification from driving for causing.

The 23-year-old undergraduate and part-time private hire car driver admitted to one count of the offence, with another count taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.

The court heard that on July 8 last year, Khalis had gone home at 8pm after attending a Hari Raya gathering, before starting work as an Uber driver from 10pm.

Around midnight, he met a friend at a coffee shop, before resuming his services at 2.30am.

By the time he picked Castilla up from Changi Business Park around 7am on July 9, he had completed 10 trips and had been driving non-stop for nearly five hours.

Travelling slightly above the speed limit along Xilin Avenue as he approached the left bend of the two-lane slip road towards the East Coast Parkway, Khalis lost control of the vehicle, and rammed into a tree.

The front portion of Khalis’ vehicle was wrecked, with the car’s body and frame “mangled”.

“The force of the collision’s impact was so great as to hack off a sizeable chunk of the tree’s stem. An entire segment of the tree’s bark was stripped by the force of the impact,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jarret Huang.

His passenger, Castilla, suffered multiple injuries, including severe head injuries. He was pronounced dead on the spot by paramedics.

Court documents did not reveal what injuries Khalis suffered, except that the front airbags were deployed as a result.

Pointing to the “great impact of the crash” and the fact that Khalis was driving when he was tired, DPP Huang urged the court to impose a jail sentence of at least four weeks’, with a five-year disqualification period.

However, noting his client’s early plea of guilt and “absolutely clean record”, Khalis’ lawyer, Mr Ramesh Tiwary, asked instead for a jail term of two weeks’, with a five-year disqualification period.

Khalis, whom the court heard is currently on an internship, will begin his jail sentence on Dec 3. For causing death by a negligent act, he could have been jailed up to two years, and/or fined.