The man at the wheel in the discretionary right-turn accident that cost National University of Singapore (NUS) student Kathy Ong her life in April last year will be jailed for eight weeks.

Principal District Judge Victor Yeo sentenced the former cabby, Yap Kok Hua, on the morning of August 2, 2019.

Yap, 55, who is now unemployed, will also be disqualified from holding all classes of driving licences for five years, after pleading guilty to causing Ong's death by a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, and serious injuries to three others who were in the taxi he was driving at the time by a negligent act.

Two other charges, of him causing hurt to the driver of the car that hit the taxi while going straight, as well as failing to ensure his three backseat passengers were wearing their seatbelts, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The accident

According to court documents, Yap was driving a taxi that carried the 19-year-old Ong, as well as her three friends Zon Lim (22), Ting Jun Heng (22) and Lim Jin Jie (23) on the evening of April 19, 2018.

He had picked them up from Clementi Mall at 7:27pm, and they were headed toward Tembusu College. Yap had failed to ensure that Ong, Ting and Jin Jie were wearing their seatbelts before moving off.

He was turning right from Commonwealth Avenue West onto Clementi Road (at the junction where the Singapore Polytechnic campus is located) using a discretionary right turn when a Nissan Presage, driven by 21-year-old Ng Li Ning, travelling straight along Commonwealth Avenue West towards Boon Lay Way at high speed, crashed into its side, sending both cars spinning.

Yap was going at 24km/h while turning.

The taxi also ended up hitting another car that was stationary at the junction.

Ong was rushed to the National University Hospital and arrived at 8:02pm. She was pronounced dead about two and a half hours later.

Driver of Nissan Presage was more than 20km/h above speed limit

A senior forensic scientist who observed various clips of the accident from multiple angles estimated that the Nissan Presage was at least 20km/h above the speed limit of 70km/h on that road, measuring his speed at between 92 and 97km/h, between 0.3 and 0.9 seconds before impact.

Taken over a slightly longer period, between 0.3 and 1.3 seconds before impact, Ng's average speed was estimated by the same scientist to be between 102 and 104km/h.

In a separate analysis, another forensic scientist concluded that the accident "would likely" have been avoidable if the Presage was moving at the speed limit of 70km/h when the taxi picked up speed to complete the right turn, or when its headlights first became completely visible in the taxi's in-vehicle camera.

Ng, however, had the right of way.

At the time of the accident, the weather was clear, visibility was good, the road was dry and traffic flow was light.

Injuries of 3 other taxi passengers

Ong's schoolmates were all hospitalised for between eight and 54 days for varying but serious injuries.

Lim, who was seated in front, suffered injuries to his face and brain, with glass pieces being found in his wounds. He was hospitalised eight days and was on medical leave until May 11 that year.

Jin Jie, who was seated on the right hand side of the back seat, suffering similar injuries to his brain, and a fracture on the right side of his spine. He, too, was hospitalised for eight days, but was on medical leave till August 31.

Ting suffered the most grievous of the injuries, being seated in the centre. He suffered a seizure, traumatic brain injury, a bruised lung, fractured ribs, a tear in his kidney and multiple pelvic bone fractures. He was hospitalised for 54 days.

Driver is multiple-time traffic offender but sole breadwinner of family

According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh, in sentencing submissions on Wednesday morning, Yap is a repeat traffic offender, having been fined twice for speeding, three times for beating a red light, and twice for careless driving, between 1992 and 2016.

In mitigation, pro-bono defence lawyers Josephus Tan and Cory Wong said Yap is "very remorseful" for his actions and cooperated fully with the authorities' investigation.

Additionally, they argued that Ng's dangerous driving should be considered as a mitigating factor, especially with the knowledge that the accident could "likely" have been avoided if he had adhered to the speed limit of 70km/h on the road at that moment.

Tan and Wong also pointed out that Yap is the sole breadwinner of his family, undergoing medical treatment for an acute kidney injury and no longer has a driver's licence — nor will he be able to return to driving after serving his jail sentence.

Judge: Yap's own negligence outweighs responsibility of speeding driver in tragedy

In delivering his verdict and Yap's sentence, Principal District Judge Victor Yeo said he was not inclined to give much weight to Ng (the driver of the Presage)'s conduct, given Yap's culpability in the accident and his driving record.

With regard to the facts and circumstances of the accident, Yeo said it was clear to the court that Yap could see the Presage approaching at a high speed on the second left lane in the opposite direction.

"As pointed out by the DPP (Deputy Public Prosecutor), the consciousness of risk in this case was very high."

District Judge Yeo also said he could not ignore Yap's past driving offences, particularly his failure to conform to the red-light signal on three previous occasions — the last being on July 1, 2016 — as well as his two previous incidents of speeding.

He also disagreed with his defence lawyers' mitigating arguments that Yap's previous driving offences were not relevant to the case at hand, instead agreeing with the prosecution these were not minor traffic transgressions.

"(Yap), of his own negligent conduct, had caused a very serious collision that resulted in the death of one of his passengers and caused grievous injuries to the three other passengers... so to that extent, having regarded the culpability of the accused, I am not inclined to give much weight to the conduct of the involved party (the driver of the Presage) as a mitigating factor in this case."

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Top photo by Matthias Ang