Public Prosecutor v Ng Jui Chuan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Choo Han Teck J
• Judgment Date: 11 April 2011
• Neutral Citation: [2011] SGHC 90
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Hearing Date: 18 March 2011,11 April 2011
• Docket Number: Magistrate’s Appeal No 406 of 2010 (DAC No 17852-17853 of 2010)
• Plaintiff Counsel: Amarjit Singh and Geraldine Kang (Deputy Public Prosecutors)
• Defendant Counsel: Raymond Lye (Citilegal LLC)
• Subject Matter: Road Traffic
• Published date: 26 April 2011

Choo Han Teck J:

On 8 November 2009 the respondent was driving along Upper Thomson Road at about 6.48am when he fell asleep at the wheel. His car veered to the side of the road and hit a pedestrian, Mok Sow Loon, killing her. The respondent was charged under s 304A(a) of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed) (“the Penal Code”) for “doing a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide ... and thereby causing death”. He was also charged under s 337(a) of the Penal Code for causing hurt by doing a rash act that endangered the life of Wee Song Mong, the husband of Mok Sow Loon who was walking beside her at the time of the accident. At the end of the trial, the trial judge amended the charge from s 304A(a) to s 304A(b), namely from causing death by a “rash” act to causing death by a “negligent” act and convicted the respondent on the amended charge. The second charge was similarly amended from s 337(a) to s 337(b) from causing hurt by a “rash” act to causing hurt by a “negligent” act. The punishment under s 304A(a) was “imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both”. The punishment for a s 304A(b) offence was “imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both”. The punishment for an offence under s 337(a) was “imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to $5,000, or with both”. The punishment for an offence under s 337(b) was “imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both”.

The trial judge fined the respondent $7,000 and disqualified him from driving all classes of vehicles (the “disqualification”) for three years in respect of the first charge (as amended); and fined him $2,500 in respect of the second charge (as amended). The total fine was thus $9,500 and the period of disqualification was for three years with effect from 28 October 2010. The prosecution appealed against the amendment of the charges and the sentences imposed. Although a trial was conducted, the facts relied upon by the prosecution were based on the Statement of Agreed Facts, which were in turn based on the statement that the respondent had given to the police on the morning of the accident.

The respondent was at the time, a 34-year old manager in a company dealing in milk products. Mok Sow Loon and her husband were both 76 years old. The couple were walking along the road on the extreme left lane towards a church. There was a pedestrian walkway but cars that were parked in front of the terraced houses along the road had partially blocked the walkway. According to the Statement of Agreed Facts, the respondent rose from bed at 8am the previous day, 7 November 2009, and went to work. He left his office sometime in the evening and went for dinner. He was back home at about 10pm and continued to work at home till midnight. He then chatted with a friend over the Internet. He left his flat at 2am to meet the said friend at the friend’s flat at Block 760 Yishun Street 72. The respondent lived at Block 318 Shunfu Road. He told the police that he had drunk two small glasses of wine before 5am, when he was at the friend’s flat. The alcohol content in his blood was 0.07mg per 100ml of blood, an amount conceded by the Deputy Public Prosecutor to be “negligible”. The respondent felt tired at about 6am and decided to return home. He left Yishun, and the route home took him along Sembawang Road to Upper Thomson Road.

An important part of the Statement of Facts (at [6.4] to [6.6] of the judgment below) read as follows: 6.4 … At the signali[s]ed junction of Upper Thomson Road and Sin Min[g] Avenue, he was already feeling sleepy and was dozing off. He had actually slapped himself behind the neck a few times to keep himself awake. 6.5 As the traffic light turned green, the [respondent] moved off. After the junction of Upper Thomson Road and Sin Min[g] Avenue, the [respondent] had filtered to the left lane as it was his habit to travel on the extreme left lane to make a left turn into Jalan Todak to go home. Subsequently, the [respondent] was uncertain of the speed of his vehicle or the lane in which he was travel[l]ing as he [had] dozed off while he was driving. The [respondent] was unaware of what had occurred and was awoken only by a sudden “bang” on the front left of his motor car. 6.6 When the [respondent] opened his eyes, he noticed that the left side of his windscreen was cracked and that his vehicle was still in motion. The [respondent] applied the...