A 58-YEAR-OLD doctor sentenced to two weeks' jail last week for drink driving has filed an appeal against her sentence.
Irene Lim Kay Han, a senior consultant radiologist at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, who was also banned from driving for four years, is on bail pending the appeal hearing.
Lim had pleaded guilty to a charge of drink driving between 9pm on April 26 and 1.30am the following morning.
Some time after 1.30am, her stationary car "with the engine running, headlights turned on and hazard lights off" was spotted on the third lane of the Pan Island Expressway in the direction of Tuas, near the Clementi Avenue 6 exit.
A patrol officer with the Expressway Monitoring Advisory System who checked on the car, noticed the woman smelt of alcohol.
A Traffic Police officer was sent to the scene. Lim failed a breathalyser test and was arrested. A second test at the station, taken at about 3.50am, showed she had 129 mcg of alcohol per 100 ml of breath, nearly four times the legal limit of 35 mcg.
Her lawyer said the offence arose out of an urgency to see an aunt whom she thought was dying.
Senior Counsel Sant Singh said that Lim had gone to bed but was woken up by a call from the hospital saying that her aunt's condition had deteriorated.
He said her first reaction was to go to her aunt; it did not occur to her that the wine she had during lunch and dinner and the glass of whisky she took as a nightcap would put her over the limit to be behind the wheel.
Mr Singh noted that Lim did not cause any damage or injury and was not a serious danger as there was not much traffic at the time.
Lim, who has a clean driving record, had always hired a limousine service when attending events where she may drink, he said.
He also pointed to her charity work and contribution to the local arts scene.
But District Judge Salina Ishak said in her written judgment that jail terms are usually imposed on drink-driving motorists whose alcohol level is more than three times the legal limit.
Lim's alcohol level was "clearly sufficiently high" to create a real risk of causing injury to people or damage to property; it was only fortuitous that no one was hurt or killed, said Judge Salina.
The judge noted that Lim could have called for a taxi or her usual limousine service. As a senior doctor, Lim would be aware of the dangers of drink driving.
The judge said that while Lim's contributions are commendable, she found no compelling reason for the doctor to be spared the usual sentence. In fact, a stern sentence was justified to send the message that the courts do not tolerate such offences.
First-time drink-driving offenders can be fined between $1,000 and $5,000 or jailed for up to six months. Subsequent offenders can be fined between $3,000 and $10,000 and be jailed for up to a year.
