A YOUNG motorist who hit an elderly couple, killing one of them, was jailed for a month and banned from driving for five years.
Customer service coordinator Lee Chau Yeng, 23, pleaded guilty last month to causing the death of Madam Hoh Ah Moy, 66, in Dunman Road on July 24 last year.
Madam Hoh was crossing the road with her husband, Mr Lim Lee Thong, 77, when they were hit. Mr Lim, who is blind in one eye, survived. The couple were going for a medical appointment when the accident happened.
A district court heard that Lee, then an administrative assistant and a part-time student at the Management Development Institute of Singapore, was on her way to take an examination when she saw the couple standing in the centre of the two-lane road.
Lee sounded her horn to alert the couple when the car was about 11/2 car lengths away. She then stepped on the accelerator pedal, thinking the couple would stop to let her pass.
But when Madam Hoh and her husband stepped forward, Lee could not stop the car in time.
A trained nurse, she immediately called for an ambulance and attended to the couple. They were taken to Changi General Hospital, where Madam Hoh died from multiple injuries.
Lawyer S.G. Kannan said Lee had been suffering from depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder since the accident.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim had said that if Lee had maintained a safe distance, she would have had ample time to stop.
The prosecution had sought a jail sentence for Lee, who could have been given up to two years in prison and/or a fine for causing death by a negligent or rash act.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 18, 2008.
