After evading a police roadblock, two women swapped seats in the car because the driver did not have a licence.
Both of them were sentenced to jail on Wednesday (6 Aug), reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Source: Haryo Ramadantyo on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
On 23 Dec 2023, Sun Weilin Estella, 32, and Fong Yoke Mun, 29, met late at night to go drinking at a pub, each consuming about two pints of beer each.
They decided to leave at about 3am, but when Fong complained of a headache, Sun offered to drive them in Fong’s car, though both knew that Sun did not have a licence.
Sun then proceeded to drive the car with Fong in the front passenger seat.
When they reached the junction of Upper Cross Street and Eu Tong Sen Street, Sun noticed a police roadblock roughly 107m ahead of them.
Source: Google Maps
She reversed the car in the middle of the junction to avoid the roadblock and turned right into Eu Tong Sen Street, going towards Hill Street.
The police officers stationed there saw this and one flashed a torchlight at the car to signal her to stop, but she continued driving.
The police gave chase, and the car stopped at a red light at the junction between Eu Tong Sen Street and North Canal Road.
Source: Google Maps
The two women then swapped seats, with Fong now in the driver’s seat, to avoid Sun being arrested for driving without a licence.
However, the police noticed that they had swapped seats.
They then directed them to pull over for checks and interviewed them separately.
Both women eventually admitted that it was Sun who had been driving the car initially.
They also failed their breathalyser tests and were arrested and tested again.
Fong was found to have 46 microgrammes (mg) of alcohol in every 100ml of breath while Sun had 19 mg/100ml.
The legal limit for driving in Singapore is 35 mg/100ml.
In court on Wednesday, Sun pleaded guilty to two charges:
Fong also pleaded guilty to two charges:
The court heard that while Sun did have a provisional driving licence at the time, she had never held a valid Singapore Class 3 driving licence.
Fong knew this, but allowed Sun to drive her car as she knew that she was taking driving lessons and the roads would not be crowded at night.
In sentencing, District Judge Christopher Goh described the offences the women committed as “actually very, very silly”.
But the court treats their offences “quite seriously” as there are “too many people who don’t think of the effects when they drive without a licence”, CNA quoted him as saying.
Thus, Sun was sentenced to six weeks in prison while Fong was sentenced to five weeks.
Both women were also disqualified from attaining any type of driving licence for two years.
Also read: Driver In Hougang Beats Red Light & Nearly Hits Pedestrian, Swapped Seats With Passenger Earlier
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Featured image adapted from Haryo Ramadantyo on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.