After entering Singapore to make a delivery, a lorry driver hit a 57-year-old pedestrian at a zebra crossing in Jurong West, fatally injuring him.

Instead of stopping to help, the 35-year-old driver, Safuan Bin Tehda, continued driving to Tuas and returned to Malaysia, while the victim died of his injuries in hospital.

About six months after police took out a warrant for his arrest, Safuan was nabbed in Malaysia and extradited back to Singapore.

He was sentenced to 23 months' jail on Wednesday (Jun. 5), and has also been disqualified from holding all classes of driving licences for eight years.

Drove into S'pore in lorry to make delivery

The court heard that Safuan was employed by Vanguard Logistics, a Malaysia-based company, for about 11 months before the fatal accident on Aug. 25, 2023.

On that day, he was delivering medical supplies from a manufacturing plant in Penang to a logistics facility located along Bulim Street in Jurong West.

Safuan drove the lorry into Singapore before dropping off the items at about 8:16am.

He left the facility at about 9:19am.

Knocked down pedestrian at zebra crossing

The victim, surnamed Goh, was also in the vicinity for a job interview that morning.

After it ended, he crossed the zebra crossing located at the junction of Bulim Avenue and Jurong West Avenue 2 at around 9:24am.

A witness said Safuan's lorry did not stop at the crossing and collided with Goh, injuring him.

The accident was also captured on dashcam footage from a stationary vehicle nearby.

Court documents indicated that Safuan was "aware" of the collision as he felt an impact around the lorry's rear tyre, but did not stop to render assistance.

Instead, he continued driving to Tuas Checkpoint and left Singapore for Malaysia at about 10:28pm.

Victim died in hospital

Following the accident, a passerby went over to check on Goh, who was still conscious and able to talk.

Another passerby called the police and an ambulance brought Goh to the National University Hospital (NUH) at about 10am.

He was found to have suffered a "degloving injury" around his lower abdomen — meaning the top layers of skin and tissue there had been ripped off.

Goh was pronounced dead about an hour later.

An autopsy report determined that the cause of death was multiple injuries consistent with those sustained in a road traffic accident.

Arrested and extradited to S'pore after 6 months

On the day of the accident, at about 1:12pm, Safuan told his supervisor that he had knocked down a pedestrian at a zebra crossing.

He stopped working for the company from the next day, Aug. 26.

Court documents did not indicate if he had resigned or was fired.

On Sep. 25, 2023, the Singapore police applied for a warrant to arrest Safuan in Malaysia.

He was arrested by federal Malaysian police in Pahang, Malaysia on Mar. 14 and extradited to Singapore the next day.

Safuan pleaded guilty to three charges relating to dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident and obstruction of justice on Jun. 5

Driver 'did not intend to cover up his crime': Defence

The prosecution sought a sentence of between 24 to 32 months' jail for Safuan, along with eight years of disqualification from holding or obtaining all classes of driving license.

The prosecutor pointed out that Safuan had collided with the victim at a zebra crossing, where the latter had right of way.

He added that by virtue of driving a heavy vehicle, Safuan would have been required "to exercise a greater level of care and attention".

In mitigation, the defence lawyer asked for a more lenient sentence on account that Safuan had informed his supervisor about the accident afterwards.

The lawyer said this showed he "did not intend to cover up his crime", Lianhe Zaobao reported.

The lawyer added that Safuan was "remorseful for his actions" and wanted to apologise to the family for what he had done.

Top image from court documents