Insurance agent Lee Seck Lian contended that she was overwhelmed by stress from work and the behavioural issues of her son. - Photo: ST
SINGAPORE: A 48-year-old woman who was initially fined S$10,000 for driving while she was banned from doing so will now have to spend six weeks in prison after prosecutors appealed to the High Court for a jail term to be imposed instead.
Insurance agent Lee Seck Lian contended that she was overwhelmed by stress from work and the behavioural issues of her son – who stole and had been caught vaping – when she got behind the wheel in July 2021.
Lee, who was then under a three-year disqualification order, said it did not cross her mind at the time that she was not supposed to drive.
The district judge who sentenced Lee was of the view that she “was not meaningfully cognisant that there was a disqualification order against her when she committed the offences”, and hence, deterrence was a less compelling sentencing consideration.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Hui Choon Kuen highlighted at the appeal that a custodial sentence of about eight weeks as the starting point was the usual punishment for such an offence.
The prosecutor argued that there were no exceptional circumstances in Lee’s case to justify such a drastic deviation from the norm.
In the hearing on the appeal on July 10, High Court Judge Vincent Hoong agreed with the prosecution that a fine was manifestly inadequate.
He said the lower court judge had erred in suggesting that Lee’s offending was “undeterrable” owing to her emotional distress.
Justice Hoong allowed Lee to start serving her jail term on July 30, after her lawyer, Vinit Chhabra, sought a deferment.
Lee was disqualified from driving for three years from March 12, 2020, as a result of a drink-driving offence.
At about 4pm on July 1, 2021, she left home and got behind the wheel of her Honda, ostensibly to “run away from everything”.
She ended up at Seletar Airbase and had a nap there. After waking up and driving off, she lost control of the car while turning along Hyde Park Gate at about 9pm.
Her car veered off the road, went into a drain and hit a metal fence.
Lee, who was unhurt, exited the car with the help of passers-by and went home in a private-hire vehicle.
The next morning, when she returned to the scene, the car had already been towed away.
She called the police the following day and was eventually arrested on July 12, 2021.
On Nov 24 that year, she made a compensation of more than $1,600 to JTC Corporation for the damage caused to the fencing and drain concrete slabs.
On Aug 29, 2022, she pleaded guilty to a charge of driving under disqualification and a charge of driving without valid insurance.
Two other traffic-related charges for the accident were taken into consideration.
Following a three-day hearing to determine her mental state at the time of the offences, Lee was fined a total of $10,400 – $10,000 on the first charge and $400 on the second charge.
She was also handed, in effect, a four-year driving ban.
The prosecution then appealed against the $10,000 fine.
The outcome of the appeal means that Lee has to pay a fine of $400 and serve six weeks in prison. - The Straits Times/ANN
