Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, two, while driving van without licence in Singapore
At the time of the accident, the 36-year-old man did not have a driving licence and was on the run for a previous unlicensed moneylending offence.
The accident occurred on March 13, 2023, at the carpark of Block 326 Woodlands Street 32, and his daughter died the same day.
On Wednesday (July 16), the man was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail and disqualified from driving for three years after pleading guilty to two charges of driving without a valid licence and driving without motor insurance.
Two other charges of driving without due care and attention were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The man cannot be named as the identities of his other children are protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The court heard that the man was sentenced in December 2021 to a year's jail and three strokes of the cane for an unlicensed moneylending offence.
He was supposed to start serving his sentence in January 2022 but did not surrender himself on the scheduled date.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he remained on the run till the day of the accident.
That day, his wife was driving a rented delivery van to the Woodlands Street 32 area to deliver parcels. The man, their son and daughter were with her.
After the couple delivered some parcels, the man asked to drive the van to several other blocks to clear the remaining deliveries quickly so the family could have lunch.
His wife knew he did not have a valid driving licence but allowed him to drive. She walked to a block to deliver parcels while pushing their daughter in a stroller. Their son was with the man in the van.
Footage played in court shows the van making a turn in the carpark as the man's wife was pushing the stroller by the roadside. The crash happened off-camera.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong said the van, which was not driven at a safe distance from the wife, toppled the stroller and ran over the daughter and the wife's right foot.
Seeing their daughter motionless on the road, his wife screamed. The man immediately braked and reversed the van.
The man alighted and ran towards his wife, who was cradling the girl and crying hysterically. He took the girl from his wife's arms and tried to wake her but to no avail.
He then walked around aimlessly while carrying the toddler, mumbling: 'Papa sorry.'
Some passers-by called for an ambulance, which took the wife and daughter to hospital.
The girl suffered a bruise on her forehead and was bleeding profusely from her nose and mouth. She died in hospital at about 3.30pm that day.
The man was arrested and started serving his sentence the next day for his previous offence.
DPP Ng told the court the man had been fined $1,500 in August 2021 for driving without a licence.
He said: 'The consequences which arose from the accused's driving was grave as well as tragic.
'An accident occurred, and the accused caused the death of his own daughter, as well as untold grief to both his wife and himself.'
The man, who did not have a lawyer, took issue in court with the timeline of investigations as he was charged two years after the accident.
District Judge Shawn Ho found there was no inordinate delay by the police or prosecution as time was needed to obtain various documents, such as medical reports.
The judge pointed out that the man had absconded for his previous offence and thereafter had to serve his jail sentence, which also took time.
The man said in mitigation that he and his wife were remorseful and still grieving the loss of their daughter.
He said: 'As a human, (how) do I feel if I cannot bury my own daughter when I'm inside (prison)?'
He said he is the family's sole breadwinner as his wife has not been in the right state of mind to work after the accident.
'It's our own daughter, not an outsider or a passer-by... It's hard for us to move on,' he said.
The couple have since had another baby, a six-month-old boy, who was in court with the wife, elder son and other family members.
He continued requesting a lighter sentence after the jail term was handed down, but Judge Ho said he had already considered his mitigation plea seriously.
The man accepted his sentence and kissed his sons goodbye before he was taken away. - The Straits Times/ANN
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