By Arul John

AFTER the death of his close friend in a crash when the car he was driving went out of control, all he has now are 'what if' questions.

Mohamed Basheer K N K Naina Mohamed, 20, told The New Paper: 'Since the accident, I have been asking questions like 'what if we had not gone to Tekka that day?', 'what if we had not had a few drinks along the way?', 'what if I had not been speeding that day?'

The full-time NSF storeman thinks that if he had just not done those things, his friend, Muhammad Habibullah Mohd Hanifa, 22, might still be alive today.

Mohamed Basheer ended up driving while drunk and lost control of the car when his friend, who was also drunk, tried to grab the steering wheel while they were on the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE).

The car hit the central divider and Muhammad Habibullah, who was sitting in front, was flung out and died of multiple injuries on the spot.

On Friday, Mohamed Basheer was jailed for 10months for causing the death of Muhammad Habibullah by a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide.

He was also jailed for a week for driving a car while under a blood alcohol limit in excess of the prescribed limit of 35 ug/100ml.

Both men had known each other since 2002, when they were students in the same secondary school.

In an interview before he was sentenced, Mohamed Basheer said he and Muhammad Habibullah, a full-time NSF at Clementi Fire Station, did many things together, like going to the movies, hanging out and playing snooker.

He was due to end his NSF stint next June while Muhammad Habibullah's would have ended this year.

At 3am on 31 Dec last year, Mohamed Basheer, who was then 19, was driving his mother's month-old white Honda Civic along the centre lane of the AYE towards Tuas.

At the time, Mohamed Basheer was a probationary driver and also under probation for two charges of theft and using criminal force.

He also failed to display the probationary plate on the car.

The evening before the accident, the friends had met and decided to go for a meal and drinks at Serangoon Road, near the Tekka market area.

He said: 'Muhammad Habibullah had bought a new motorcycle two days earlier and he wanted to try it out. He rode the motorcycle to meet me at the void deck of my home at Clementi and we then went to Clementi Fire Station.'

They then went to a 7-Eleven store near the fire station, where Muhammad Habibullah bought some vodka.

Mohamed Basheer said: 'I drink alcohol sometimes, but am not a habitual drinker. Usually, Muhammad Habibullah would drink with some friends and I would just sit with them.

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