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A Singapore Grab driver, Candy McDonald, also known as Lim Siew Peng, was sentenced to jail for four days for paying another person S$10,000 to find a third party to take the blame for a traffic offence she had committed.

The 51-year-old woman was also fined S$2,500 and banned from driving for 15 months, starting from Nov. 1.

According to CNA, the person she paid, Koh Chew Seng, eventually resorted to using his wife as the scapegoat after he was unable to find a willing party.

McDonald was friends with both Koh and his wife.

Koh was also a Grab driver, as well as the owner of a car rental company, Koheng Auto.

Offence committed

According to court documents seen by Mothership, McDonald had driven against the flow of traffic to overtake another vehicle on May 16, 2020.

She narrowly avoided an oncoming vehicle and forced the driver of the vehicle that she was overtaking to apply his brakes, in order to avoid colliding with the rear of her car.

CNA further reported that McDonald was ferrying passengers at this time.

In addition, the car she used had been rented from Koh's company.

Finding a scapegoat

In June 2020, Koh received a summon letter from the police which stated that the car McDonald drove at the time of the incident had been used to commit an offence of careless driving.

The penalty listed was an out-of-court fine of S$200 and six demerit points, CNA further reported.

When Koh informed McDonald about the letter, she admitted that she had committed the offence.

She also voiced her reluctance at receiving the demerit points as she feared that her licence would be revoked and her work as a Grab driver would be affected.

Following a discussion between Koh and McDonald, she agreed to pay him S$10,000 in the form of S$200 weekly installments, in exchange for his help in finding another person to assume liability for the offence.

Koh was unable to find any driver and eventually settled on his wife, as she was also a driver.

Koh then used his firm's corporate account to submit his wife's details to the traffic police.

Koh then paid the fine using his wife's name under his firm's account, when he received a summon letter addressed to his wife.

He did this while she was not at home.

His wife also received six demerit points.

McDonald subsequently began making the weekly payments in July 2020.

CNA further reported that in August 2020 and October 2020, McDonald also made two lump sum payments of S$3,000 each, following the reception of grants by the government to help drivers through the pandemic.

These transfers came to the notice of Koh's wife but when she asked him about them, he told her not to "ask so much".

Admitted to her actions on January 2021

McDonald subsequently admitted to her role on Jan. 14, 2021, in a police report. Court documents did not mention McDonald's reasons for admitting her actions to the police.

She was charged with one count of obstructing the course of justice, with regard to paying Koh for a scapegoat, and one count of dangerous driving for the May 2020 incident.

McDonald pleaded guilty to both.

For obstructing the course of justice, she could have been jailed up to seven years, fined, or been subjected to both.

For dangerous driving, McDonald could have been have jailed up to 12 months, fined up to S$5,000, and been subjected to both.

As for Koh, he was sentenced to a week's jail at an earlier date.

Top photo by Mandy How for illustration purposes