A driver who killed a 64-year-old pedestrian while drink driving and speeding along Dunearn Road will serve his original 11-year jail term after the High Court dismissed appeals from both the prosecution and defence on Monday, 7 September.
The 46-year-old Australian, who is a Singapore permanent resident, had been sentenced in February to 11 years’ jail, a S$12,000 fine and a 15-year driving ban.
His lawyers wanted the jail term reduced to between six years and four months and eight years. Prosecutors, meanwhile, sought to increase it to 12 years and nine months.
Neither side succeeded.
The man is not being named as this could identify his two children, who were aged three and four at the time of the crash and are protected by a gag order.
High Court Keeps Original Sentence Despite Issue With Guilty Plea Discount
Justice Christopher Tan found that there was some merit in the arguments made by both sides, but said they were not sufficient to overturn the sentence imposed by the lower court.
One key issue concerned the reduction in sentence that the driver received for pleading guilty.
Principal District Judge Toh Han Li had applied a 30 per cent reduction under sentencing guidelines that give accused persons credit for indicating an intention to plead guilty early.
However, the High Court agreed with prosecutors that the driver should have received a 20 per cent reduction instead because he indicated his intention to plead guilty only during Stage 2 of the guidelines, rather than the earlier Stage 1.
Even so, Justice Tan found that the lower court’s overall approach to sentencing was largely sound and left the final 11-year term unchanged.
Driver Was Travelling at Up to 122kmh on a 70kmh Road
The fatal crash happened on 23 April 2023.
The driver had attended a child’s birthday party with two of his children and consumed red and white wine before driving them home in his BMW M3 Coupe.
At around 2pm, he was travelling along Dunearn Road near Tan Kah Kee MRT station.
A 64-year-old Singaporean retiree was crossing the road and had made it across most of the lanes when the car struck him.
The driver had failed to notice the pedestrian and was travelling at between 111kmh and 122kmh, well above the road’s 70kmh speed limit.
The collision killed the pedestrian immediately and separated his body into three parts. The impact also damaged the car’s windscreens and caused minor injuries to the driver’s two young children.
The driver was arrested after failing a preliminary breath test.
The court also heard that he had previously been convicted of careless driving and drink driving in 2015. In that incident, he had fallen asleep while intoxicated in a stationary vehicle and later drove into a police car after officers woke him.
For the 2023 crash, he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death as a serious repeat-repeat offender and repeat drink driving. Another dangerous-driving charge involving his children was taken into consideration during sentencing.
With both appeals now dismissed, his original sentence of 11 years’ jail, S$12,000 fine and 15-year driving disqualification stands.
