SINGAPORE: Two drivers who were part of a group of six that went on a midnight joyride on the CTE at speeds of up to 203kmh were handed jail sentences on Monday (June 29).
Damien Chia Hwa Chuan, 29, was sentenced to four months and two weeks’ jail for dangerous driving causing hurt, while Sherman Quah Kok Rong, 22, will have to serve two months and three weeks behind bars for dangerous driving.
Both will be disqualified from driving for three years after their release.
The first man in the group to be dealt with in court was Marcus Lau Yong Wei, 35. On June 26, he was sentenced to four months’ jail and a driving disqualification of three years over a dangerous driving charge.
Charges against the other alleged drivers – Goh Jared-Kane, 26; Gilviz Lee Jun En, 23; and Kong Jia Quan, 24 – are still before the courts.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Chye Jer Yuan said the group of six had met up at a carpark in Stadium Boulevard at around 1am on Oct 27, 2024, before their joyride to the downtown area.
They trailed each other at high speed along the PIE, CTE, Orchard Road, Bras Basah Road and Raffles Boulevard, with Chia and Quah hitting speeds of up to 203kmh on the CTE near the Balestier exit.
The speed limit on the expressway is 90kmh.
Security camera footage played in court showed Goh travelling at a high speed in Stamford Road towards Fort Canning Link, with Kong and Lee following closely behind in two separate cars.
During the drive, Goh had to hit his brakes hard to avoid a collision as he was making a right turn into Queen Street from Stamford Road.
It caused Kong to rear-end Goh. Lee then swerved sharply to the right, mounted the adjacent grass verge and overturned.
As a result, the roadside vegetation, a road sign and traffic light signal were damaged.
Meanwhile, Lau and Chia were approaching the accident site at high speeds. As debris from the first collision flew across from the far right lane, Lau applied his brakes, causing Chia to ram into Lau.
Quah, who managed to avoid hitting anything, did not stop at the accident site. Instead, he drove off to a nearby building with Goh and Kong in their own cars.
Defence lawyer Gino Hardial Singh, who represented Quah, urged the court to call for a probation suitability report or impose a S$5,000 fine.
He said his client was 20 years old when he committed the offence and had no history of offending behaviour.
“The present offence is an isolated and aberrational lapse in judgment rather than part of any sustained pattern of criminal conduct,” said Singh.
Chia’s defence lawyer, Edwin Sim, said that his client had rendered full assistance to the authorities.
The prosecutor said Chia and Quah did not act out of a momentary lapse in judgment, noting that they had travelled at excessive speeds over significant stretches of road.
For dangerous driving, an offender can be fined up to $5,000, jailed for up to a year, or both.
An offender convicted of dangerous driving causing hurt can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to two years, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
