By Elena Chong

THE four men were in high spirits. There was to be a wedding party later that day.

Loud music blasted out of the stereo of the car that had been rented for the event. With the car windows wound down, the wind was in their hair.

The driver floored the accelerator in the Hyundai Avante, and it shot down Dunearn Road, a 70kmh zone, at over 160kmh on the morning of Feb 10.

At the junction of Dunearn Road and Chancery Lane, Mr Jayakumar Asokan, 26, ran a red light and lost control of the car. It slammed into a tree and came to a stop among thick bushes.

The impact threw all four men out of the car, killing three of them. None was wearing a seat belt.

State Coroner Victor Yeo said yesterday that the men were obviously in a celebratory mood. They had just had supper at Adam Road Food Centre and were on their way to Mustafa Centre in Little India to buy wedding decorations.

As Mr Asokan's blood sample had only a small quantity of alcohol, below the legal limit for driving, the coroner ruled that his reckless driving caused the tragedy.

Investigations showed that the Hyundai, with music blaring, sped past cabby Chia Choon Khiang, 53, who stopped his taxi at the lights. Mr Chia, the only witness to the crash, told investigators that the driver then hit the brakes, sending the car skidding across three lanes to the right. It mounted the kerb, hit the tree and then the bushes. He saw four people being flung out. The car was a total wreck.

The only survivor, Mr Muhammad Alif Mohamed Shah, 20, was in hospital for two months with severe head injuries. Even now, nine months later, he has been reported to think and behave like a child.

The three who died were Mr Asokan, Mr Muhammad Alif's elder brother Mohammad Khalil and Mr Sunthereswaran Nadesan Mariyappan, both 23.

Coroner Yeo ruled Mr Asokan's death a misadventure, and the other two deaths a result of negligence on his part.

The court heard earlier that Mr Asokan was the designated driver of the wedding car, even though it had not been hired in his name. The named hirer and driver was Madam S. Sasikala, who had asked him to be the chauffeur for her niece's wedding.

In court yesterday were Mr Asokan's father, MrSunthereswaran's uncle, and the two brothers' sister, Madam Nasheera Begum, 28.

Madam Nasheera, a teacher, said her brother was trying to cope with his physical disabilities and was being looked after by their mother.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 14, 2008.

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