The driver who crashed his car into groups of people outside Lucky Plaza in 2019 that killed two women and injured four others has been sentenced to jail for two years and six months.
Chong Kim Hoe, a Malaysian man who is a Singapore permanent resident, now 66, pleaded guilty on Sep. 24 to one count of dangerous driving causing death.
He was working as a private-hire car driver at the time of the incident.
The court heard he had a history of beating red light signals, according to The Straits Times.
He will also be disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for 10 years after he is released from prison.
What happened on day of accident
Chong took a smoke break along Nutmeg Road after dropping off a passenger.
After receiving a booking to pick up another passenger along Orchard Road, the driver made an unauthorised U-turn at the junction of Jalan Kayu Manis.
Footage of the incident was caught on CCTV cameras.
As he was making the U-turn, the rear of his car mounted the kerb along Jalan Kayu Manis.
Chong then stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.
The car mounted the pedestrian pathway along Nutmeg Road, went across a grass patch, and hit six women, before going through the guard rail and landing on the service road at Lucky Plaza.
Two women — Abigail Danao Leste, 41, and Arlyn Picar Nucos, 50 — died, while four others were injured.
Arlyn Nucos
Abigail Leste
All six women from the Philippines worked as domestic helpers here.
One victim who died and another who was critically injured are sisters.
What was heard in court
The Deputy Public Prosecutor urged the court to sentence Chong to between two and three years’ jail and disqualify him from driving all classes of vehicles for 10 years.
The defence lawyer pleaded for leniency and said Chong had remained at the scene and cooperated with investigations.
Following the crash, more than S$360,000 was raised for the four injured women and the dependants of the two dead women.
The online fundraiser closed on Jan. 6, 2020.
Top photos by Jane Zhang