Jail term dropped for driver who ran the red light
Ian Poh | The Straits Times | Monday, Mar 24, 2014
SINGAPORE - A 21-year-old driver who ran a red light at an accident- prone junction and caused the death of a motorcyclist had his two-week jail term dropped after appealing last Friday.
In allowing Iskandar Abdollah's appeal against his punishment, the High Court considered that he had not intentionally run the lights at the junction of Victoria Street and Rochor Road in 2011 - the site of a 2012 accident involving a Ferrari and a taxi that left three people dead and two hurt.
But the court increased a driving ban on the full-time national serviceman from five to seven years and doubled his $4,000 fine for causing grievous injury to his victim's pillion rider through a negligent act.
Then 19, Iskandar was driving four friends home in the early hours of May 16, 2011, when his Hyundai ran the light and rammed into Mr Yogesvaran Ganesan's motorcycle. The Malaysian, 23, died on the spot.
Iskandar claimed trial, arguing that the light was green in his favour, but was convicted last October of negligently causing Mr Yogesvaran's death. His appeal against conviction was dismissed last Friday.
Iskandar, who had received his driving licence just four months before the accident, kept his head down throughout the hearing last Friday. Voice choked with emotion, he told the court before it gave its decision that he was sorry for all that had happened.
Asking for the jail term to be reduced to a fine, Iskandar's lawyer Ramesh Tiwary said that even if the light was red against Iskandar, he was not aware of it and drove into the junction without realising his mistake. This, Mr Tiwary said, reduced his client's culpability.
Iskandar was then only 19 and came from a good family. It was also his first offence, he added.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Navin Naidu conceded that the prosecution could not say that Iskandar deliberately ran the red light.
But he said Iskandar ought to have been aware of the traffic signals which, he pointed out, was a basic feature of driving.
Overhead traffic lights were installed at the junction in June 2012, in the wake of recent accidents.
The maximum penalty for causing death by a negligent act is a jail term of two years and a fine.
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