Road rage: Ex-IT employee sentenced to 16 years' jail for causing Syed Danial's death

SHAH ALAM: A former information technology employee was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the High Court here Thursday (Dec 7), for causing the death of bank manager Syed Muhammad Danial Syed Shakir at the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban bound North-South Expressway (NSE) in a road rage incident four years ago.

Judge Julia Ibrahim ordered the sentence on Yew Wei Liang, 45, to start from the date of his arrest on Aug 10, 2019.

While delivering her verdict, Judge Julia said the court had taken into consideration the mitigating factors put forth, including Yew's background and his cooperation during the investigation, and the victim’s family’s impact statement.

"At the same time, the court has to emphasise the importance of public interest in such a case and mete out a deterrent sentence that will serve as a lesson to the public, because it started as a road rage case, being driven by anger and dissatisfaction and aggravated by the use of prohibited substances only invites bad consequences.

"The court also weighed the impact statement from the victim's family and this is indeed a great tragedy that has befallen and impacted all parties, either directly or indirectly,” she said. - Bernama