A FORMER SMRT bus driver was charged in court yesterday with causing the deaths of two people in an expressway accident earlier this year.
Tay Siang Ching, 30, is accused of losing control of his bus and crashing into a lorry that had stopped along the shoulder of the Tampines Expressway on July 9.
Madam Tan Chui Hoon, 58, and Indian national Michael Motcharaj, 33, were killed in the crash. She had been seated in the lorry's cabin while he was in the vehicle's bed.
The lorry driver suffered serious injuries and another passenger was also hurt in the collision.
Tay, a Malaysian, faces a single charge of causing death by committing a rash act and two others of injuring the driver and another passenger.
If convicted, he can be jailed for up to five years and fined on the charge of causing death. He also faces jail and fines in connection with the injuries to the other occupants.
Yesterday, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan adjourned the case for four weeks. Tay is out on $10,000 bail and his passport has been impounded.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 10, 2008.
