Drink-driving S'porean man, 27, argues with girlfriend, knocks down tree in Bukit Merah, gets jail

A 27-year-old Singaporean man who drove to fetch his girlfriend from a gathering in Outram Road ended up drinking some alcohol before leaving.

Jerome Weiyang Terry T K only managed to drive about 2km before he got distracted during an argument with his girlfriend, swerved to avoid a cyclist, and knocked down a roadside tree.

After driving away from the scene, he was arrested at a nearby car park in Bukit Merah and subsequently failed a breathalyser test.

On Aug. 7, Terry was sentenced to five days' jail and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for three years.

Knocked down tree while drink driving

Court documents seen by Mothership indicated that the drink driving incident took place on Mar. 16, 2024.

At around 2:30am, Terry drove his car to fetch his girlfriend from a gathering with her friends at Holiday Inn Atrium on Outram Road.

He was asked to drink some alcohol before leaving, and obliged by having some beer before driving back home.

At around 4:01am, while driving along Kim Tian Road, Terry got into an argument with his girlfriend.

Prosecutors said Terry took his eyes off the road while talking to her.

When he turned his attention back to the road, Terry realised that he was too close behind a cyclist, and swerved right to avoid the cyclist.

However, he lost control as he did so and collided with a tree by the roadside.

The collision broke the tree trunk and the tree fell over.

Arrested at nearby car park

After the accident, Terry panicked and drove away from the scene, said prosecutors.

At around 4:23am, the car was spotted by a police officer at the Block 127 Kim Tian Road multi-storey car park.

Terry was alone and in the driver's seat.

The front of the car had sustained cracks and dents and its front licence plate was ripped off.

Terry came out when he saw the officer, who noted that Terry reeked of alcohol.

Terry admitted to the officer that he had drunk alcohol before driving, but claimed he did not drink any after he stopped the car.

The officer tried conducting a breathalyser test on him but Terry failed to provide a breath specimen.

He was arrested and escorted to Police Cantonment Complex for another breathalyser test the same morning.

Terry was found to have 57 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, which exceeds the prescribed limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

He didn't intend to drink and drive: Defence

Terry subsequently pleaded guilty to two charges under the Road Traffic Act, with a third charge taken into consideration for sentencing.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of one to two weeks' jail and a disqualification from driving for 36 months for Terry.

Prosecutors argued that there was "serious potential harm" as Terry drove for a distance of about 2km while inebriated, with a passenger in the car, and by his own admission, "in a careless manner".

They also argued that he collided with a tree with sufficient impact to damage it, and drove away to evade arrest.

Terry also had a prior speeding offence in 2021 settled out of court, prosecutors noted.

In mitigation, Terry's lawyer argued that Terry's intention on the night of the incident was just to drive his girlfriend home, and that he did not originally intend to drink and drive, Shin Min Daily News reported.

The lawyer asked for a more lenient sentence for him.

The judge sentenced Terry to five days' jail and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a driving licence for three years.

Top image from court documents