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A Malaysian woman was sentenced to six years in prison by the Johor Bahru High Court for causing the death of eight teenagers in a 2017 road collison.
Sam Ke Ting, who is now 27 years old, was initially acquitted and discharged by the Magistrate Court, before the prosecution succeeded in their second appeal against the decision, the Malay Mail reported.
Sam was charged with reckless or dangerous driving for the crash that took place along Jalan Lingkaran Dalam on February 2017.
The collision
At around 3:20am on Feb. 18, 2017, Sam was driving a car when she plowed into a group of more than 30 teenagers riding "basikal lajak", modified bicycles where the handlebars are level with the seat.
Eight teenagers, aged 13 to 16, died and eight more were injured.
Sam pleaded not guilty and claimed trial, according to the New Straits Times.
The acquittal
In 2019, the Magistrate's Court decided to acquit Sam and ordered her release.
In her judgement, Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali said that the prosecution failed to prove a case based on the "failure of the investigation officer to investigate the case properly", the Straits Times reported.
Siti Hajar added that Sam was driving within the speed limit. Adding on to that, Sam was not using her phone and was not drunk at the time of the incident.
Siti Hajar added that the group of teenagers had gathered behind the hill to race on a road that had dim lighting.
"It is impossible for the accused to have predicted the whereabouts of the group of teenagers behind the road hill at 3am in the morning.
The hilly road conditions had limit(ed) the line of sight of the road user."
The magistrate also noted that the teenagers had failed to equip themselves with proper safety equipment such as helmets and light reflection jackets.
The new sentence
However, in his judgement on April 13, 2022, High Court Judge Abu Bakar Katar said the Magistrate's Court made an error in failing to decide the respondent's defence without being under oath.
According The Star, before the sentencing, he said:
"The respondent, in her defence, stated that she did not see the group of cyclists at the scene and there was another vehicle that hit the deceased cyclists and drove off. This version was never raised by the respondent during the prosecution's case.
The Magistrate’s Court made a mistake when it accepted the respondent’s defence of not knowing there would be basikal lajak activity during the time of the incident as an excuse to drive dangerously, which resulted in the victims’ death(s).
The respondent should have driven vigilantly instead of driving fast and causing the incident, and should have realised that the area's lighting was not bright at around 3:20am."
Abu Bakar also said that with limited visibility, the respondent should have been aware of road safety if she drove her car beyond the speed limit of 50kph before reaching the scene of the incident.
In addition to her prison sentence, Sam was also ordered to serve another six months in prison if she did not pay a RM6,000 (S$1,934) fine.
She is also disqualified from driving for three years effective after the completion of her prison sentence.
Sam's lawyer Muhammad Faizal Mokhtar said they would be making an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Top image from 8TV Mandarin News and Douglas See YouTube. Image of cyclists on road is for illustration purposes and is not directly taken from the incident in question.