Lawyer, 55, from Templars Law, allegedly crashed into guard railings along Bukit Panjang Rd, charged with drink driving & giving false info to police

A lawyer in Singapore, who was allegedly involved in a road traffic incident on Apr. 7, 2024, was charged with drink driving, careless driving, giving false information to police officers, and driving without due care and attention.

Steven John Lam Kuet Keng, 55, the director of Templars Law, was handed five charges, Shin Min Daily News reported.

Crashed after midnight

Lam allegedly crashed his car into guard railings at 12:25am that day, while driving along Bukit Panjang Road towards Choa Chu Kang Road.

Lam's car veered to the right and mounted the kerb after he allegedly failed to have proper control of his car.

The car collided into nine portions of guard railings in the centre of the road.

After crashing into the guardrails, he allegedly also failed to take reasonable steps to inform the owner of the damaged government property.

Told police someone else behind wheel

At about 12:49am, Lam allegedly gave false information to a police officer by saying that he was not the driver of the car involved in the accident.

He allegedly claimed that an unknown person had been driving.

At about 4:57am, Lam allegedly gave false information at the Traffic Police Headquarters as he claimed again that he was not the driver of the car.

Overlimit

He is said to have had no less than 61 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

This amount exceeded the prescribed limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Lam did not indicate if he would plead guilty.

His case will return to court on Jul. 17.

Previous convictions

He was previously convicted of drink driving on Oct. 25, 2006, and speeding in 1999, his charge sheet indicated.

He could be sentenced as a repeat offender.

Penalties

He may be fined between S$5,000 and S$20,000, and jailed for up to two years for a second drink driving conviction.

A repeat offender convicted of driving without due care and attention could be jailed for up to 12 months, fined up to S$3,000, or both.

He could also be disqualified from driving if convicted of traffic offences.

He could be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both for giving false information to a public servant.

He could be fined up to S$1,000 or jailed for up to three months for a first offence for failing to take reasonable steps to inform the owner of damaged property about the damage.

Top photo via Shin Min Daily News