The Case:
Lim, 55, a Shin Min Daily News executive editor, is alleged to have run a red light, according to the charges against her.
Ms Ong, 32, a civil servant, said she had been in the back seat of a car driven by her husband, with her baby on her lap.
Having stopped at the Stevens Road junction, they were waiting for the lights to change to make a right turn into Dunearn Road.
Then she saw Lim's car, which she described as a dark-coloured sports utility vehicle (SUV), coming from the opposite direction.
It continued moving after hitting the motorcycle and passed Ms Ong's car before stopping.
"The driver had her left hand to the left side of her face and I had the impression that she was using a cellphone, but I cannot be sure," Ms Ong said.
But she agreed with Lim's lawyer Subhas Anandan that Lim could have held her hand to her face in shock.
Another witness in court yesterday, CityCab taxi driver Lim Kian Seng, 51, said he had stopped his taxi next to Mr Pattiselanno's motorcycle at the red light just before the junction in Dunearn Road.
The pair on the motorbike had caught his attention because the motorcyclist was a lot older than his pillion rider and the bike was quite "fancy", said Mr Lim.
As the lights changed in his favour, he followed the motorcycle to turn right into Stevens Road, but had to "jam his brakes" when the crash occurred and the pair were thrown off the motorcycle.
He said that he was surprised the SUV driver had not tried to stop or taken evasive action before the impact.
After his passenger had agreed to stop to render aid, Mr Lim swung his taxi diagonally across the road to prevent other cars from crashing into the injured pair.
He called the police and found both victims badly hurt.
Then, Lim came out of her SUV and started screaming "Oh, my God" repeatedly.
Ms Ong, 32, a civil servant, said she had been in the back seat of a car driven by her husband, with her baby on her lap.
Having stopped at the Stevens Road junction, they were waiting for the lights to change to make a right turn into Dunearn Road.
Then she saw Lim's car, which she described as a dark-coloured sports utility vehicle (SUV), coming from the opposite direction.
It continued moving after hitting the motorcycle and passed Ms Ong's car before stopping.
"The driver had her left hand to the left side of her face and I had the impression that she was using a cellphone, but I cannot be sure," Ms Ong said.
But she agreed with Lim's lawyer Subhas Anandan that Lim could have held her hand to her face in shock.
Another witness in court yesterday, CityCab taxi driver Lim Kian Seng, 51, said he had stopped his taxi next to Mr Pattiselanno's motorcycle at the red light just before the junction in Dunearn Road.
The pair on the motorbike had caught his attention because the motorcyclist was a lot older than his pillion rider and the bike was quite "fancy", said Mr Lim.
As the lights changed in his favour, he followed the motorcycle to turn right into Stevens Road, but had to "jam his brakes" when the crash occurred and the pair were thrown off the motorcycle.
He said that he was surprised the SUV driver had not tried to stop or taken evasive action before the impact.
After his passenger had agreed to stop to render aid, Mr Lim swung his taxi diagonally across the road to prevent other cars from crashing into the injured pair.
He called the police and found both victims badly hurt.
Then, Lim came out of her SUV and started screaming "Oh, my God" repeatedly.
Source: Asiaone Motoring
The Verdict:
IT WAS a day of twists and turns for a newspaper editor in the High Court on Friday.
Lim Hong Eng, the 56-year-old executive editor of Shin Min Daily News, was there to hear the outcome of the appeal against her sentence for knocking down and injuring a motorcyclist and killing the woman riding pillion with him.
The appeal against her conviction was rejected, but the 11/2-year jail term dealt by a lower court was cut to a day's jail and a $12,000 fine on two charges.
Later in the morning, defence lawyers and the prosecutor ran some checks and realised that there had been a sentencing error for one of the charges.
The mistake was for the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, for which she was jailed a day and fined $10,000. The Road Traffic Act does not make a provision for a fine for this offence, only jail-time.
So it was back to court after the lunch hour. When Lim re-entered the courtroom, the smile that lit up her face upon the morning's verdict was replaced by an anxious expression.
Her counsel Subhas Anandan told Justice Choo Han Teck that he may have misled the judge with his arguments for a 'high fine' to be imposed on Lim.
Justice Choo set aside the fine, saying: 'In the circumstances, it will not be right to increase the custodial sentence to the detriment of the accused.'
Relief washed over Lim to know that the fine's being set aside was not going to mean a longer jail term for her. The judge made it clear, however, that this was a one-off case and was not to be used as a sentencing precedent.
Mr Anandan later told reporters that Lim will donate to charity the $10,000 she was to pay in the fine.
Lim Hong Eng, the 56-year-old executive editor of Shin Min Daily News, was there to hear the outcome of the appeal against her sentence for knocking down and injuring a motorcyclist and killing the woman riding pillion with him.
The appeal against her conviction was rejected, but the 11/2-year jail term dealt by a lower court was cut to a day's jail and a $12,000 fine on two charges.
Later in the morning, defence lawyers and the prosecutor ran some checks and realised that there had been a sentencing error for one of the charges.
The mistake was for the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, for which she was jailed a day and fined $10,000. The Road Traffic Act does not make a provision for a fine for this offence, only jail-time.
So it was back to court after the lunch hour. When Lim re-entered the courtroom, the smile that lit up her face upon the morning's verdict was replaced by an anxious expression.
Her counsel Subhas Anandan told Justice Choo Han Teck that he may have misled the judge with his arguments for a 'high fine' to be imposed on Lim.
Justice Choo set aside the fine, saying: 'In the circumstances, it will not be right to increase the custodial sentence to the detriment of the accused.'
Relief washed over Lim to know that the fine's being set aside was not going to mean a longer jail term for her. The judge made it clear, however, that this was a one-off case and was not to be used as a sentencing precedent.
Mr Anandan later told reporters that Lim will donate to charity the $10,000 she was to pay in the fine.
Source: STOnline
Dunno abt u guys.. but running pass a red light and resulting a death, no matter it's intentional or not, giving onli 1 day jail sounds like TOTAL bullshit to me... and looking at her post, wat's 12k to her anyway?
edit: chai showed me the chinese papers, seems tt it's not 12k fine anymore.. it's 2k fine plus suspension of her liscene for 10yrs... and it's still a 1 day jailterm...
okie lor... every morning take cab nia... scare meh~~~
