Claiming trial against the 10 charges levelled against him, Lee Cheng Yan denied he had been behind the wheel of a Maserati that dragged a traffic police officer more than a 100m.

Lee had claimed that someone named Kelvin, who was of the same height and build as him was driving the S$175,000 car instead.

He also said that Kelvin had been wearing a white t-shirt, similar to the one that Lee had been seen leaving the house with.

However, despite this defence, CNA reports that on Dec. 4, the 35-year-old — who also goes by the name Alex — was found guilty of all the charges brought against him.

The charges include:

• Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a public servant
• Driving while disqualified
• Failing to stop when ordered by a police officer
• Failing to wear his seatbelt while driving

Didn't wear his seatbelt

According to court documents, Deputy Public Prosecutors Timotheus Koh and Senthikumaran Sabapathy had made the case against Lee saying that on Nov. 17, 2017, he had driven his Maserati to pick up a laptop from a man at Bedok Reservoir Rd.

At the time, he had been disqualified from driving.

After picking up the laptop, Lee drove along Bedok Reservoir Rd towards Eunos Link, and he was spotted by a traffic police officer driving without his seatbelt.

The officer signalled for Lee to pull over, but he refused to do so.

Lee was eventually forced to stop at a traffic junction due to traffic conditions.

Video footage of the incident showed that the officer then approached Lee at the driver's window which was wound down.

Dragging the traffic police officer

Yet, Lee instead suddenly reversed his Maserati before accelerating quickly to flee the scene, while the officer was still beside him.

In the process, the officer's jacket got caught in the driver's side door of the vehicle, resulting in him being dragged along with the moving Maserati.

The prosecution argued that Lee was aware of this, saying that the officer was "within touching distance of the driver's seat as he clung on to the Maserati".

But instead of stopping, Lee continued to drive a distance of 124m while the officer was hanging onto his side door.

Court documents show that he drove at a "considerable speed of 79km per hour to 84km per hour, before shaking the victim off the Maserati".

"It is the prosecution's case that, when the accused drove in this manner, he knew that it was likely that the victim would fall and suffer grievous hurt."

Abandoning his car and his white t-shirt

After the officer fell from the car, Lee continued his escape.

However, he was chased by an eyewitness on a motorcycle, with footage taken by the motorcyclist's pillion rider showing Lee driving recklessly.

The footage can be seen here:

After he managed to evade the motorcycle, Lee abandoned his Maserati along Willow Ave, called a friend to pick him up.

They went to another friend's home where Lee told them about the incident he had been involved with.

At this house, Lee also threw the white t-shirt he had been wearing down a rubbish chute.

The traffic police officer received more than 20 days of medical leave due to injuries sustained to his right knee, neck, and back. He was subsequently medically downgraded by the Home Team's medical board.

No evidence?

According to CNA, Lee's defence lawyer Balamurugan Selvarajan had tried to convince the District Judge Ng Peng Hong to acquit his client of the charges by positing that the prosecution had failed to prove that Lee intended to cause or knew that his actions would cause grievous hurt to the officer.

Balamurugan also argued that only one witness was able to identify Lee as the driver while casting doubt on the quality of the witnesses account, calling it "a fleeting glance made through a heavily tinted window".

He said that there was no direct evidence that Lee was the driver of the Maserati that night.

Disagreeing with the defence, the prosecution said that there was an abundance of evidence incriminating Lee.

In their submissions, the prosecution said that it would be "inconceivable" that Lee did not know he was dragging the officer, but "persisted in driving on".

They also pointed to the fact that the officer had been shouting at Lee to stop, "but to no avail".

Where is Kelvin?

As for Lee's claim that an individual named Kelvin had been driving the car, the prosecution emphasised that there was "no evidence whatsoever that 'Kelvin' even exists".

Lee had previously said that he did not know Kelvin's last name and address despite claiming to lend the car out to him.

He had only provided the police with a phone number that turned out to be "not in use".

Saying that Lee had "more than two years to date" to produce Kelvin or provide the police with more details, the prosecution submitted that "'Kelvin' was conspicuously absent at trial".

"There are no details about 'Kelvin' beyond a useless phone number and a generic description that 'Kelvin' is 1.8 meters tall, has a fair complexion, and is skinny built. A description that the accused concedes fits him as well.

To this, it should be added that this ‘Kelvin’ was also conveniently also wearing a white shirt on the day of the incident, that is why (according to the accused) he disposed of his own white shirt because he did not want to be associated with ‘Kelvin’."

The defence had said that their client was not asked for more details about Kelvin apart from his phone number while arguing that Lee's description of Kelvin "reflects his honesty" as he would not have given such a similar description if he wanted to dissociate himself from Kelvin.

Yet the prosecution labelled the argument "weak and hollow".

"It is incumbent on the Defence to prove the existence of ‘Kelvin’ since it is the Defence that seeks to rely on the fact that he exists."

They also called Lee's claims about Kelvin a "desperate plan to mislead the police and this court".

Raising his bail

According to CNA, the judge said that prosecution had established Lee's guilt of the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

Upon his conviction, the prosecution asked for Lee's bail to be increased by at least 50 per cent on the current amount of S$60,000, saying that the risk of the offender absconding was high.

The judge increased Lee's bail to S$70,000.

He will be sentenced on Jan. 14, 2020.

The penalties for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant from his duty are a maximum jail term of 15 years and a fine or caning.

Top image from Alex Lee and Yan Han's Facebook page

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