With twice the legal blood alcohol level in him, Eric Lim Liang Heng drove against the traffic along Tampines Expressway and crashed head-on into another car. Service engineer Toh Bock Keong, who was behind the wheel of the other car, died.

Yesterday, Lim was jailed for 31/2 years and banned from driving for 20 years for causing death by dangerous driving.

Lim, a deliveryman, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Toh Bock Keong, 34, in a head-on collision at about 4am on Feb 12 last year.

Lim, 28, also admitted a drink- driving charge, for which he was given a concurrent six months in jail - the maximum - and a five-year driving ban.

A third charge of driving dangerously by causing a car in the centre lane to swerve to the extreme left to avoid a head-on collision was considered.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Evelyn Lee said that shortly before the accident, Lim was driving his company vehicle against the flow of traffic without his lights on in the extreme right lane of the three-lane expressway.

Investigations showed that upon impact, Mr Toh's car spun a few times before coming to a complete stop on the extreme left lane in the direction facing the oncoming traffic.

Mr Toh, who suffered a serious head injury, was pronounced dead on the spot.

APP Lee said Lim, who was also injured, was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He was later arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

A sample of Lim's blood was analysed and found to contain about twice the legal limit - 165mg of ethanol per 100ml of blood.

District Judge Aedit Abdullah, who said he had not come across a case like this before, said driving down an expressway in the wrong direction was particularly grievous.

"I find it hard to conceive a more serious or more dangerous way of driving, except perhaps in situations where more persons are actually put at risk," he said.

Thus, the sentence to be passed should be on the "high end of the scale".

"There is a significant deterrent element which needs to be served in the circumstances here," he said.

The high alcohol content also called for the maximum term, he said.

Pleading for leniency earlier, defence lawyer Ravinderpal Singh said Lim knew his mistake had caused a very tragic loss of life.

"There is nothing he can do to undo what happened on that fateful night," he said.

Mr Singh said Lim, who experienced a blackout at the time of the accident, also suffered permanent injuries. These included neck injuries and a dislocated right toe, which makes walking difficult.

Not a day passes without him thinking about what happened and he deeply regrets his actions, the counsel added.

Lim could have been jailed up to five years for causing death by dangerous driving.

The accident has also changed Mr Toh's family forever.

His elder sister, who declined to be named, said: "People have told me that time is a healer. But that's rubbish. We will never heal from this."

Mr Toh is sixth in a family of seven children.

"My mother cannot take what has happened. No one could predict this kind of an accident," said his sister.

She described Mr Toh as a loving man she would meet on Sundays when she visited her parents and had dinner with them.

When asked if she was satisfied with the sentence passed on Lim, she said: "We should accept it somehow.

"Lim has parents too and they will be able to see him after he comes out of jail. I'll never see my brother again."