A TOP civil servant whose car hit a Victoria School student along Marine Parade Road in October last year was yesterday cleared of criminal negligence in the fatal accident.
State Coroner Victor Yeo came round to this view following testimony by several witnesses at the inquiry into the death of Secondary 4 student Wrixon Chew Teck Cheng, 16, who died six days after the accident.
The driver of the car was Ms Chin Li Fen, 48, an Assistant Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras). Named as a potential defendant at the inquiry, she elected to remain silent.
One witness, airline pilot Lars Anders Schoden, 42, said the lights for pedestrians to cross were clearly red at the time of impact.
The court heard that after a graduation ceremony at school that day, Wrixon and two schoolmates headed for a tuition class. But as they were about to board a bus, he received a call to return to school to pick up a pen.
His schoolmate Arthur Lim Wei Quan, 16, walked back to school with him. As they were on the pedestrian crossing, the green man signal started flashing, said Arthur, who was a little ahead of his friend.
As they stood on the divider, however, Wrixon showed him a paper plate on which had been written well wishes by his schoolmates, and decided to pass it back to their friend at the bus stop.
He was hit by Ms Chin's car as he ran diagonally across the road.
Coroner Yeo, returning an open verdict, said evidence suggested that Wrixon could have failed to keep a proper lookout for oncoming vehicles.
