Singapore — An appeal for lower liability filed by a driver involved in the accident that killed NUS student Kathy Ong was dismissed in court on Thursday (Sept 30).
Ms Ong, 19, was killed on April 19, 2018, when the taxi she was riding in figured in a collision with a speeding vehicle driven by Ng Li Ning, 25.
Three of Ms Ong’s companions in the taxi sustained injuries.
In 2019, the taxi driver, Yap Kok Hua, then 55, entered a guilty plea to one charge of a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, as well as another of causing grievous hurt to the surviving three passengers.
Ms Ong and her companions were all headed to NUS in the cab driven by Mr Yap, who had picked them up from Clementi Mall at around 7:30 pm. The driver made a discretionary turn to the right but ended up in a collision with an oncoming car.
The other three passengers of the cab, Zon Lim Thou Jung, Lim Jin Jie, and Ting Jun Heng, sustained serious injuries and were brought to the hospital.
Unfortunately, Yap did not check whether the three passengers in the back of the cab were wearing their seat belts at the time of the collision.
The other car involved was a Nissan Presage, driven by 21-Ng, had right of way. However, as he was driving at a speed between 92 kmh and 97 kmh, Mr Ng was unable to prevent a collision with the cab, which ended up hitting another car.
Ms Ong, who was seated in the back, died at National University Hospital (NUH) due to multiple injuries. She had been partially thrown out the window.
Mr Ting suffered a traumatic brain injury and broken ribs and pelvic bones. He spent 54 days in the hospital, at first in a coma.
Both Mr Zon Lim and Mr Lim Jin Jie were hospitalised for 8 days, with Mr Zon Lim suffering from multiple lacerations and glass in his wounds, and Mr Lim Jie Jin sustaining bleeding in his brain and a spine fracture.
After the accident, Mr Ting filed a lawsuit against Yap and Ng. The High Court judge who ruled in the suit said that the taxi driver was 65 per cent liable for the crash, and Ng was 35 per cent liable.
Ng then appealed for his liability to be lowered to 25 per cent, which the Court of Appeal dismissed on Sept 30, given the speed of his vehicle and that he had kept his foot on the accelerator as he drove toward the junction.
The judges said Ng had been “charging down” the street at a “recklessly high speed” and was “seemingly oblivious to the presence of the turning vehicles” from the opposite direction, according to a CNA report.
Ng also “did not think of slowing down when he approached the junction,” the judges said.
After the accident, Ng was banned from driving for two years and was made to pay a $5000 fine. The taxi driver was jailed for eight weeks and banned from driving for five years.
The two drivers also paid Mr Ting S$95,000 as part of the civil suit. /TISG
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Taxi driver involved in collision that killed NUS undergrad pleads guilty