Last Updated on 2023-05-21 , 12:49 pm
When you find yourself in hot water, finding a scapegoat to help extricate yourself from a sticky situation may be tempting.
This may work if the issue is a minor one or the person who is taking the rep for you is willing to risk his or her neck for you.
Unfortunately, for one foreign worker in Singapore, his attempt to cover up his wrongdoing by asking his colleague to take responsibility for his mistake landed him and his “accomplice” in hot water.
Foreign Worker Collides With and Kills a Cyclist
On 16 April last year, a fatal accident occurred near a fork of Jalan Eunos in the direction of the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) headed towards Tuas. The accident happened at around 5.03 pm in the evening.
According to Shin Min’s report, the victim was Mr Adul Yaziz (direct translation from Chinese). Mr Adul was a 64-year-old cyclist.
The accused who knocked down Mr Adul was Mr Uteyapan (direct translation from Chinese), a 25-year-old Indian national. The latter man was working as a foreign worker in Singapore and was driving a lorry when he accidentally knocked over Mr Adul.
Another foreign worker, 28-year-old Indian national Mr Rajandiran, was also in the lorry at the time of the accident.
While Mr Uteyapan had successfully obtained his driver’s license on 30 April 2021, at the time of the accident, he had not yet completed his one-year training period to hone his driving skills.
The victim was riding his bicycle across a zebra crossing when the accident occurred. The road in question was a two-lane road, and the accused was driving a lorry in the left lane.
Mr Uteyapan had reportedly noticed that the red taxi on his left stopped before the zebra crossing, but he did not follow suit. Instead, Mr Uteyapan continued driving forward at approximately 40 km per hour.
Could it have been a simple case of oversight, or was Mr Uteyapan overconfident in his freshly acquired driving skills?
Unfortunately, the victim appeared at the zebra crossing soon after and by the time the accused registered the victim’s presence, it was too late to stop the lorry.
This sounds like why many drivers hate cyclists, as they tend to “appear out of thin air”. Then again, road safety is everyone’s responsibility, so can any party fully absolve themselves of all responsibility?
As Mr Uteyapan did not manage to brake in time, he collided with the cyclist. The collision impact sent the cyclist flying seven metres away.
According to the medical reports, the accident caused the victim to suffer severe injuries, including head and rib fractures. He was pronounced dead more than an hour after the accident occurred.
From this sad story, it seems there is some way to go on the cyclist safety front before Singapore can fully transition into using bicycles as an effective mode of transport to substitute for cars, taxis and public transport.
Foreign Worker Asked Colleague to Take the Rep for Him and the Colleague Agreed
When the police and the medical personnel arrived at the site of the accident, the accused came up with a plan to shift the blame away from himself. He had requested Mr Rajandiran to say he was the driver who had caused the accident.
The impetus for the lie was Mr Uteyapan’s fear that his driving license would be suspended.
If you’re wondering how Mr Uteyapan pleaded with his colleague to take the blame for running over another human, it’s because Mr Rajandiran was also trying to save his own skin.
As it went, Mr Rajandiran agreed to take the rep for Mr Uteyapan because the former was afraid that the company would find out he, as the supervisor, had failed in his supervision duties of Mr Uteyapan,
Therefore, when brought to the police station for further investigation, Mr Rajandiran insisted that he was the lorry driver during the accident. He was then granted bail on that same day.
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Colleague Reports Foreign Worker Upon Learning That the Cyclist Died
Two days after the accident, however, things took a turn. The company notified both men that the victim had tragically passed away due to his severe injuries.
It was then that Mr Rajandiran became scared of the consequences of taking the blame for the accident and regretting agreeing to be the scapegoat for Mr Uteyapan.
The two then approached the police to tell the truth about what had happened on the day of the accident.
Due to this elaborate plan between the two, Mr Uteyapan was eventually sentenced to 12 months of jail time. He had his driving license suspended for eight years as punishment for colliding with and killing the cyclist.
Not only did his fear of having his license suspended materialise, but he also landed himself a criminal record from time spent squatting in jail.
Mr Rajandiran, on the other hand, was charged with obstructing justice by lying to the police about the events of the accident. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to three months imprisonment. There was no fine or suspension of his driving license.
This sounds like a case where taking the rep for someone else lands you in hot water. An important lesson we learned from this case is that the truth always (or at least, more often than not) prevails.
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