Grab Driver Jailed After Paying a Person $10k to Take the Rap for a Traffic Offence

A Grab driver paid her accomplice S$10,000 to find a third party to shoulder the blame for her traffic offence.

Ms Candy McDonald, 51, pleaded guilty to one count each of dangerous driving and obstructing the course of justice.

Apart from how shocking the incident is, her name is rather unique too. Don’t worry, her husband is not Ronald McDonald nor is she is a McDelivery driver.

The Incident 

Ms Mcdonald, also known as Lim Siew Peng, was ferrying passengers in a rented car when she drove dangerously back in 16 May 2020.

She went against the flow of traffic to overtake a vehicle, barely avoiding an oncoming vehicle. This forced the driver of the vehicle to apply his brakes to avoid a collision.

The car was rented from Mr Koh Chew Seng, who owns a car rental company called Koheng Auto.

Mr Koh then received a summon letter from the traffic police in June 2020, stating that the car was used to create an offence of reckless driving.

The offender had to pay a S$200 fine and would get six demerit points.

Ms McDonald admitted to Mr Koh about her offence but did not want to receive the demerit points. She wanted to continue to work as a Grab driver and did not want her licence to be revoked.

Both of them discussed the matter and agreed that Ms McDonald had to pay Mr Koh S$10,000 to find another driver to carry out the criminal liability.

This amount can be paid in S$200 weekly instalments.

Did Not Find a Scapegoat so Mr Koh’s Wife was Involved 

Mr Koh tried to find a scapegoat but to no avail. As such, he thought of putting the blame on his wife as they were both female drivers.

Mr Koh then used Koheng Auto’s corporate account to submit his wife’s particulars to the traffic police. He made the S$200 payment under his wife’s name and she received six demerit points.

All these were done without her knowledge as she was not at home at that point in time.

Ms McDonald then made her weekly payment of S$200 to Mr Koh via bank transfer. She made two lump-sum payments of S$3,000 in August 2020 and October 2020 after receiving government grants to help drivers during COVID-19.

When Mr Koh’s wife asked him about the money transfers, he shrugged it off, telling her not to “ask so much.”

Ms McDonald Owned Up and Faced Charges 

On 14 January 2021, Ms McDonald made a police report and admitted to making payments to Mr Koh for helping her cover-up.

Yes, it’s starting to sound like a Netflix drama.

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For this, Mr Koh was jailed for a week.

For Ms McDonald, the prosecutor wanted at least four days of jail, a fine of S$3,000 and 18 months of being banned from driving. Her actions on the road could cause a big accident and her act of obstructing justice was very serious.

He added that paying S$10,000 to Mr Koh was 50 times more than the S$200 fine Ms McDonald had to pay if she admitted to her wrongdoings.

Her Lawyer Tried to Explain her Circumstances to Minimise her Charges 

Ms McDonald’s lawyer asked for one day of jail with a S$2,000 fine, and a driving ban of 14 months for her.

The reasons include how Ms McDonald is a single mother and is the sole breadwinner for her family—her two young daughters and elderly parents.

Her livelihood depended on her driving ability and during the traffic incident day, she was a food delivery agent. That day, her pick-up food time was delayed due to unforeseen traffic conditions and she was worried that she would get a bad review.

Her lawyer brought up the point that Mr Koh was the mastermind and benefitted from the S$10,000. He also has not returned Ms McDonald any amount of money.

“When our client had come to her senses, she had come forward to confess the crime, a crime which would have gone undetected if not for her courage in facing the music,” her lawyer added.

Oh. She came to her sense.

Ms McDonald was sentenced to four days’ jail, a fine of S$2,500 and a driving ban of 15 months.

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