On Wednesday (5 June), a 35-year-old lorry driver, Safuan Bin Tehda, was given a sentence after fatally hitting a pedestrian at Jurong West and fleeing the scene on 25 August 2023.
After the accident, Mr Safuan escaped to Malaysia for over half a year before getting arrested and deported back to Singapore.
He faced a total of six charges. The judge sentenced him to 23 months in jail and revoked his driving license.
According to Shin Min Daily News, Mr Safuan was arrested in Malaysia on 14 March and was subsequently extradited to Singapore to face charges.
In court, he was given five charges under the Road Traffic Act and one charge of obstructing justice; however, he pleaded guilty to only three of the charges.
After considering the other three charges, the judge sentenced him to 23 months in prison. Moreover, the judge revoked his driving license for eight years.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Mr Safuan’s lawyer pleaded for a lighter sentence from the judge, explaining that he didn’t intend to cover up the crime and had informed his supervisor after the incident.
The lawyer said the driver expressed regret and wanted to apologise to the victim’s family.
At around 9.24am on 25 August 2023, a 57-year-old male pedestrian was hit by a lorry while crossing the road at the junction of Jurong West Avenue 2 and Bulim Avenue.
The lorry driver then fled the scene after the accident.
The victim was rushed to the National University Hospital in a conscious state and passed away afterwards due to his injuries, as reported by The Strait Times. The victim had reportedly just finished a job interview before he arrived at the scene of the accident.
Source: Google Maps, for illustration purposes only.
Shin Min Daily News also reported that the junction had been under construction at the time, with traffic police directing traffic.
An employee of a nearby factory shared that the ongoing construction work could have been a contributing factor to the accident.
It’s revealed in court that Mr Safuan was driving a Malaysia-registered lorry to deliver goods from Malaysia to Singapore on the morning of the incident.
While driving past the junction, he failed to pay attention to the road conditions and hit the victim who was on the zebra crossing.
Mr Safuan was aware that he had hit someone, but instead of helping, he drove directly to Tuas Checkpoint, leaving Singapore at around 10.30 am.
He also informed the accident to his supervisor and resigned from his job later in the afternoon.
The driver’s identity and lorry’s license plate number were identified by the police via CCTV recordings on the day of the incident. However, the police were only able to make the arrest after the driver had returned to Singapore.
Also read: Man Dies After Lorry Collides With Him In Jurong West, Driver Allegedly Fled Scene
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps, for illustration purposes only.
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