- Joined
- Mar 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,160
- Points
- 0
$250K in damages awarded ...
To the family of a Korean shuttler who was knocked down in 2005
by Teo Xuanwei
05:55 AM Apr 24, 2010
SINGAPORE - A High Court has awarded over $250,000 in damages to the family of a teenage Korean badminton player who was knocked down and killed by a Korean woman in December 2005.
The woman behind the wheel, Madam Shi Sool Hee, 55, was not wholly responsible for the accident that killed Kim Mi Seon around noon on Dec 13, though, said Justice Kan Ting Chiu on Friday.
Instead, the 15-year-old up-and-coming Korean national junior team player - who was here for her first international tournament at the Singapore Badminton Hall that day - had to bear 70 per cent of the blame for the collision, said the judge.
This was because eyewitnesses' accounts showed that Mi Seon had ignored the red pedestrian crossing light when she ran across the T-junction of Guillemard Road and Lorong 22 Geylang.
Her team-mates, Bang Eun Hye and Yoo Hyeon Yeong, both 16, had stopped at the central divider in time when they realised the lights had changed. But Mi Seon, who had one of her MP3 player earphones on, decided to dash across.
That was when Mdm Shi, a housewife who is a Singapore Permanent Resident, ran into Mi Seon. The girl, who was flung into the air, died about five hours later from multiple injuries.
Although she had the right of way, Mdm Shi was still partly to blame because she had seen the three girls trying to cross the road, said Justice Kan. She should have "realised the possibility of danger" and slowed down but she accelerated instead, thinking that she could drive past them.
Mdm Shi was convicted in a district court of driving without due care and attention on April 16, 2008. She was fined $1,000 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Justice Kan also agreed with Mi Seon's badminton coaches that she had good prospects of turning professional.
She would have been able to provide for her parents, Mr Kim An Seok, 46, and Madam Jeon Sang Sun, 43, from 2010 onwards, he said.
Justice Kan fixed the total loss of earnings at $243,085.65, taking into account her wages and training allowance.
He also awarded $3,000 for bereavement damages and $5,350 in legal costs.
But he rejected the couple's claims for expenses incurred on their trips here and funeral expenses because these had been borne by the Korean Badminton Association.
In total, Justice Kan awarded $251,435.
Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants were in court on Friday
To the family of a Korean shuttler who was knocked down in 2005
by Teo Xuanwei
05:55 AM Apr 24, 2010
SINGAPORE - A High Court has awarded over $250,000 in damages to the family of a teenage Korean badminton player who was knocked down and killed by a Korean woman in December 2005.
The woman behind the wheel, Madam Shi Sool Hee, 55, was not wholly responsible for the accident that killed Kim Mi Seon around noon on Dec 13, though, said Justice Kan Ting Chiu on Friday.
Instead, the 15-year-old up-and-coming Korean national junior team player - who was here for her first international tournament at the Singapore Badminton Hall that day - had to bear 70 per cent of the blame for the collision, said the judge.
This was because eyewitnesses' accounts showed that Mi Seon had ignored the red pedestrian crossing light when she ran across the T-junction of Guillemard Road and Lorong 22 Geylang.
Her team-mates, Bang Eun Hye and Yoo Hyeon Yeong, both 16, had stopped at the central divider in time when they realised the lights had changed. But Mi Seon, who had one of her MP3 player earphones on, decided to dash across.
That was when Mdm Shi, a housewife who is a Singapore Permanent Resident, ran into Mi Seon. The girl, who was flung into the air, died about five hours later from multiple injuries.
Although she had the right of way, Mdm Shi was still partly to blame because she had seen the three girls trying to cross the road, said Justice Kan. She should have "realised the possibility of danger" and slowed down but she accelerated instead, thinking that she could drive past them.
Mdm Shi was convicted in a district court of driving without due care and attention on April 16, 2008. She was fined $1,000 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Justice Kan also agreed with Mi Seon's badminton coaches that she had good prospects of turning professional.
She would have been able to provide for her parents, Mr Kim An Seok, 46, and Madam Jeon Sang Sun, 43, from 2010 onwards, he said.
Justice Kan fixed the total loss of earnings at $243,085.65, taking into account her wages and training allowance.
He also awarded $3,000 for bereavement damages and $5,350 in legal costs.
But he rejected the couple's claims for expenses incurred on their trips here and funeral expenses because these had been borne by the Korean Badminton Association.
In total, Justice Kan awarded $251,435.
Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants were in court on Friday
