Cyclist jailed a week over collision with jogger who suffered serious injuries
SINGAPORE: A man who was cycling at East Coast Park failed to see a jogger in front of him and crashed into her, causing her to suffer serious fractures with neurological consequences.
Edmund Kwek Jun Wei, 34, was given a week's jail on Friday (Jun 20), after he pleaded guilty to a charge of causing grievous hurt through a negligent act.
The incident happened in the early morning of Oct 22, 2024.
At around 6.20am, Kwek was riding at about 22kmh along a cycling path with a speed limit of 25kmh. The lights were still lit.
Kwek was looking down at one point and failed to see the jogger, 48-year-old Tan Jo-Ann. When he looked up, he saw Ms Tan's back before colliding into her.
Kwek was flung off his bicycle, while Ms Tan fell to the ground. When Kwek attended to the victim, she was unable to respond to his questions.
He called for emergency services.
Ms Tan was taken to Changi General Hospital where she was found to have serious injuries, including fractures on her right skull, the base of the skull and a possible fracture behind her nose.
She was discharged on Nov 6, 2024, 16 days later.
The injuries affected her sense of smell, taste and left ear hearing, and Ms Tan reported experiencing vertigo when bending forward.
An examination showed that she had partial hearing loss in her left ear. Her sense of smell was still lacking as of January this year.
Ms Tan attended around 19 sessions of speech therapy until March this year and her speech has improved, with no residual motor deficits, court documents stated.
Kwek's lawyer Bozy Lu from Han & Lu Law Chambers told the court that her client had been training for a marathon when the incident occurred.
Ms Lu said Kwek tried to offer compensation to Ms Tan, but she declined.
The defence lawyer added in mitigation that Kwek was remorseful and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity he had.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Former teacher who molested 7-year-old student in classroom jailed for 9 months
SINGAPORE: A former Chinese language teacher who touched the inner thigh of his female student, then around seven years old, was given nine months' jail on Friday (Jun 20). The molestation was in 2019 but left a mark on the young girl's mind until she reported it three years later. The 38-year-old Malaysian national and Singapore permanent resident pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated molest of a victim under 14. Both the accused and victim, now 13, cannot be named to protect the latter's identity. According to a past media report, the accused is no longer a teacher. The victim was then a Primary 2 student between seven and eight years old, and the accused was her Chinese language and form teacher. The offence occurred in 2019 when the girl approached the teacher's table to find out the name of a song in the music video he was playing from a laptop. She was in her classroom. Nearing the end of class, the girl stood to the left of the accused to look at the screen while the man sat on the teacher's chair. The man then placed his hand under the girl's skirt and touched her inner thigh for a few seconds, causing the girl to feel uncomfortable. There were no other students at the teacher's table then. She told him that the touch felt "itchy" before joining her classmates for recess. When she was in primary 5, the girl informed her school's vice-principal about the molestation on Apr 28, 2022. Court documents did not describe what led to this moment. A psychiatrist who assessed the victim in April 2023 said that the girl felt "scared and angry" after the incident with suicidal thoughts. "She had recurrent thoughts and flashbacks about the offence. The victim also expressed a fear of males and reported difficulty trusting others, which (the psychiatrist) opined could lead to problems with interpersonal relationships later in life," the prosecution said. The prosecution argued for eight to 10 months' jail, noting how the accused had only pleaded guilty "on the doorstep of trial". The man's lawyer Anil Sandhu described his client as apologetic and informed the court that he is father of three young children. His wife was present for his hearing. District Judge Lim Tse Haw noted how teachers were held in high regard by society and trusted by parents to "impart knowledge and good moral values" in students. "Hence when our teachers breach that sacred trust and instead violate the modesty of our students, they must expect to receive a deterrent sentence, so that a clear message is sent out that society views such serious (offences) with opprobrium," Judge Lim said. He took into account the victim's young age but noted that the touch was fleeting and did not intrude on her private parts.
Independent Singapore
2 hours ago
- Independent Singapore
Man finds ‘insects' in dinner ordered by company, but horrified netizens tell him they look like maggots
SINGAPORE: A man took to social media to complain about the 'insects' that he found in the food his company driver had bought for dinner. Commenters, however, told him that they looked more like maggots, which begin to appear when food is spoiled. They also urged him to contact the relevant authorities. On the popular COMPLAINT SINGAPORE page on Thursday (Jun 19), the man wrote that the food had been ordered from a certain stall at 7 Kaki Bukit Avenue 3, which is located near the Kaki Bukit Recreation Centre. 'This shop our company driver (buys) food for dinner. Many insects were found inside the stomach of the fish being eaten. No one can eat after seeing this fishy insect,' he added. He also posted a photo of the meal, which showed a piece of fish on a bed of rice. However, on the fish were many small cylindrical-shaped items that looked different from the rice. The post author circled these in red to indicate that these were the insects he had found. Screengrab/ COMPLAINT SINGAPORE On his post, he added a receipt from the meal as well. It was not itemized, but simply said 'makan,' for which the person who ordered paid S$49. Screengrab/ COMPLAINT SINGAPORE The post author also included a picture of the stall. A quick online search confirms that the stall has been registered since at least 2023 to sell cooked food and prepared drinks at Kaki Bukit Recreation Centre. It has no social media accounts or website, however. Facebook users who commented on the post appeared to be as horrified as the post's author. 'This is a very serious issue,' wrote one. 'Wow! Those are not insects. Looks more like maggots,' exclaimed another. 'Oh no, so many maggots !' a netizen wrote. One could hardly believe the food had been purchased in Singapore. Some urged the post author to report the matter to the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). At the same time, one commenter suggested that the stall owner should be informed about the spoiled food. The SFA oversees food safety in Singapore, while the NEA manages many hawker centres, including ensuring public health issues, cleanliness, and maintenance. While maggots themselves are generally not harmful, they are killed by stomach acid. However, in some cases, people who have ingested maggots have gotten bacterial infections. It's the spoiled food where maggots are found that commonly poses a greater danger when eaten, as it could lead to food poisoning, which can cause nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. The Independent Singapore has reached out to the post author for further comments or updates. /TISG Read also: Woman horrified to find 'worms/maggots' in Nestlé coffee capsule box ordered online
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
Motivated by lust: Jail for ex-cop who illegally accessed SPF database, asked woman for sex
SINGAPORE: Curious about a case where young women had been arrested over potential drug offences, a police officer went to search their social media profiles and found one of them to be attractive. Sean Teo then devised a plan to get in touch with her and convince her to have sex with him, and "be his woman". Teo, 29, pretended that he could help with her case even though he was completely uninvolved. Teo pleaded guilty to one count each under the Computer Misuse Act, Official Secrets Act and Prevention of Corruption Act for accessing a system without authority, showing the woman a picture of the crime scene without authority and for soliciting gratification from her. He was sentenced to 13 months' jail on Friday (Jun 20). The woman in question had been part of a group that was arrested in a suite at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) hotel for suspected drug consumption on Nov 2, 2019. She cannot be named due to a gag order. On the same day, Teo, then a sergeant with the Singapore Police Force (SPF), was on patrol duty when he heard a radio transmission about the operation at MBS. Later that day, a police officer who had been dispatched to the incident circulated a photo to a WhatsApp chat group which Teo was a part of. The chat group was for police officers from the Marina Bay Neighbourhood Police Centre. The photo, which was of the crime scene, depicted a white powdery substance on a porcelain plate, an MBS access card, and a rolled up two-dollar note. Teo saved the photo on his mobile phone. At the same time, he heard a radio transmission that several young women had been arrested. Curious to know more, Teo accessed SPF's command and control system, known as CUBICON II, to look at the incident report. Teo then recorded the names and contact numbers of the women who had been arrested and saved them on his mobile phone. Teo was not involved in the incident and had no authority to do what he did. Later, Teo searched for the social media profiles of the women who had been arrested as he wanted to see how they looked like. He found one of them attractive and wanted to get to know her. His initial effort to contact her on a chat application was in vain. Undeterred, Teo conducted a search on Telegram chat application and managed to find the woman's account. He added her contact, using a Telegram account with a fake name in a bid to conceal his identity. On Dec 7, 2019, Teo contacted the woman, an insurance agent, on Telegram and managed convince her to meet him under the pretence that he was interested in buying insurance from her. He met her for dinner the next day and introduced himself as "James". During the dinner, he revealed that he knew she had been arrested over the incident at MBS. Subsequently, the two continued to discuss her arrest and its likely outcomes. Teo told the woman he could help her by using his connections with senior officers at the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). When the woman expressed doubt about his ability to help, Teo showed her the crime scene photograph, which was enough to convince her. "(Teo) told (the woman) that he had friends in CNB, and that he was aware of cases where subjects with connections in CNB could have their urine test results fabricated," court documents stated. "To do this, male subjects had to pay money, while female subjects could either pay money or sleep with the IO (investigation officer). None of this was true. The accused was not personally aware of any instance where CNB investigations had been resolved in this way." ASKED FOR SEX Teo then said he could help the woman if she was willing to sleep with him. She replied that she would think about it. After this meeting, the pair continued to exchange messages, during which Teo would remind the woman that he could help her, and kept trying to solicit a sexual and romantic relationship with her. "The accused repeatedly asked (the woman) to 'be his woman' and told (her) that she could sleep with him instead of sleeping with the CNB IO. "On one occasion, the accused tried to convince (the woman) to meet him on the false pretext that he had confidential information from the CNB IO that was not safe to tell her over Telegram messages, and he had to tell her in person," the prosecution said. To conceal his deeds, Teo told the woman not to tell anyone about their conversations and also deleted his chats with her. After his offences came to light, Teo told investigators that he was motivated by lust. Deputy Public Prosecutors David Menon and Jonathan Tan sought a jail term of between 15 and 18 months for Teo, against the defence's proposed jail term of 12 months. Teo was represented by lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan. The prosecution said the offence was clearly premeditated and Teo had actively solicited corrupt gratification for himself. "By abusing his position as a police officer, the accused has caused reputational harm to SPF. But the accused compounded this harm when he told (the woman) that he knew senior officers at CNB who could be bribed. "The accused also claimed that urine test results could be fabricated if the right 'connections' were made. This was a baseless claim that had the potential to harm CNB's reputational integrity," the Mr Menon and Mr Tan said.
