Public Prosecutor v Choo Jin Hui

• Judge: Kamala Ponnampalam
• Judgment Date: 29 July 2015
• Neutral Citation: [2015] SGDC 217
• Citation: [2015] SGDC 217
• Docket Number: TP000131-2015
• Published date: 07 August 2015
• Hearing Date: 03 June 2015,15 June 2015
• Plaintiff Counsel: DSP Toh Hock Guan
• Defendant Counsel: Defendant in person
• Court: District Court (Singapore)

District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam:

This is an appeal by the Defendant against a sentence of disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving licence for all classes for a period of 12 months.

The Defendant, Choo Jin Hui, 28 years old, pleaded guilty to one charge under section 3(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Risks & Compensation) Act, Chapter 189. The charge read as follows:

You,

Choo Jin Hui

Male, 28 years old (DOB: 15/11/1986)

NRIC No.: [XXX]

Singaporean

are charged that you, on 14 February 2015 at about 6.30 pm, did drive motor car, SJA 7256J, along block 932 Yishun Central 1 open space carpark, Singapore, whilst there was not in force in relation to the user of the said vehicle, such a policy of insurance or such a security in respect of third party risks as complies with the requirements of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Risks & Compensation) Act, Chapter 189, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 3(1) and punishable under Section 3(2) of the same Act.

The facts

The Defendant admitted to the Statement of Facts without qualification. It stated that on 14/02/2015, the Defendant called 999 to inform the Police that his motor car, SJA 7256J, was involved in a hit and run accident. At the time of the accident, the Defendant was the driver of the motor car. Investigations revealed that there was not in force for the motor car SJA 7256J, a policy of insurance in respect of third party risks as complies with the requirements of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Risks and Compensation) Act, Cap 189. The insurance policy had expired on 18 December 2014.

Previous Offences

The Defendant is a first offender.

Mitigation

In mitigation, the Defendant pleaded for leniency. He said that he had tried to renew his insurance policy in December 2014 but his application had failed. He said that he had then overlooked the matter. He admitted that he knew that this was an offence and he promised not to do it again.

Prescribed Punishment

The offence of using a motor vehicle when there is not in force in relation to the use of the vehicle a policy of insurance in respect of third party risks is punishable with a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both. Section 3(3) of the Act further provides:

A person convicted of an offence under this section shall (unless the court for special reasons think fit to order otherwise and without prejudice to...