On 19 April 2020, Muhammad Ibrahim Abdullah was driving along Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 towards Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 when he fell asleep at the wheel.
Source: Google Maps
The Singaporean man, now 27, ran a red light and mounted a pavement along the park connector before coming to a halt. Fortunately, there were no injuries in the incident.
On Wednesday (21 Sep), Ibrahim pleaded guilty to one count of driving in a rash manner that endangered human life.
For his offence, he received a jail sentence of six days and was disqualified from driving for 15 months.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that Ibrahim ran a red light at a traffic junction while travelling along Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 towards Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 in his van.
He then mounted a curb along the park connector.
Source: gerard t. on Foursquare
Despite being aware that he had mounted the curb, Ibrahim reportedly did not reverse back onto the road and kept on driving along the pavement for another 1.2km.
He only came to a stop at the end of the park connector.
One driver who had to stop his vehicle to avoid colliding with Ibrahim later approached the latter’s van and found him with his head on the steering wheel. Ibrahim woke up when the other driver knocked on his window.
When asked if he was all right, Ibrahim said that he was “tired” and wanted to go home.
The witness told Ibrahim to stay and wait for the police, but the accused drove back to the road, running into a railing and a bollard as he did so.
As a result, there were graze marks on the concrete wall along the park connector. The bollard was also dented. Fortunately, no one sustained any injuries in the process.
Police later traced the van’s licence plate to a company that identified Ibrahim as the assigned driver at that time.
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Jocelyn Teo, Ibrahim explained that he had been working as a lorry driver from 10.30pm on 18 Apr 2021 to 6.30am the next day.
At 8am on the second day (19 Apr 2021), he went on to his second job delivering food parcels in the van.
A few hours later at around noon, he fell asleep at the wheel while driving home.
Arguing that her client was remorseful for his actions and had cooperated with the investigations, Ibrahim’s lawyer A Meenakshi asked for a five-day jail term and one-year disqualification period.
She added that Ibrahim, the main breadwinner of his family, had to take care of his ailing mother and mentally ill sister.
The prosecution, on the other hand, proposed a sentence of one to two weeks’ jail and a two-year disqualification period.
After pleading guilty to one count of driving in a rash manner, Ibrahim received a jail term of six days and a 15-month driving ban.
He could have been jailed for up to a year and/or fined up to S$5,000.
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Featured image adapted from gerard t. on Foursquare.
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