11 years’ jail term upheld for drink driver in Dunearn crash

Singapore’s Sentencing Advisory Panel sets out the different ranges of reduction in sentence that a court can grant based on the stage at which the offender pleads guilty. In general, the earlier the plea, the greater the reduction in sentence.

Tan said he would have pegged the starting term to 14 years instead, as some of the sentencing factors should be “tempered downwards”.

One of the reasons for the downward adjustment was the voluntary restitution of more than $56,000 that the offender had made to the family of the pedestrian. This information came to light only during the appeal hearing and was not before the district judge.

On the other hand, Tan agreed with the prosecution that the 30 per cent sentencing discount was too high, given the procedural history of this case.

He thus declined to disturb the sentence, noting that a 20 per cent discount on the starting point of 14 years resulted in a little over 11 years, which was what the district judge imposed.

This meant the offender’s sentence remained unchanged – 11 years’ jail, a fine of $12,000 and a 15-year driving ban.

The offender was allowed to start his sentence on Sept 14, after his lawyer, Shashi Nathan, said his client had minor wrist surgery scheduled on Sept 10.

On April 23, 2023, the man drove to a birthday party in Turf Club Road in the Bukit Timah area with his children at around 10am.

He drank several glasses of wine at the event and had his final drink at around 1.30pm.

Shortly before 2pm, he secured his children, then aged three and four, in booster seats in the rear of the car and drove off. He felt lethargic as he had stayed up the night before to look after his newborn baby and had taken an antihistamine that morning.

At around 2pm, the man drove the car along Dunearn Road towards Bukit Timah Road, which had a speed limit of 70kmh.

The vehicle was near Tan Kah Kee MRT station when the pedestrian, a 64-year-old retiree, was standing by the roadside ahead, less than 100m away from an overhead bridge.

The pedestrian had crossed more than two lanes of Dunearn Road when the car barrelled into him.

It was only after the crash that the driver realised that he had hit a person. He jammed his brakes, and the car veered into the centre lane of Dunearn Road.

By then, the children were crying loudly from the impact of the crash, which shattered both the front and rear windscreens of the car.

The offender then alerted the police, and officers who arrived at the scene arrested him after he failed a preliminary breath test.

The authorities later obtained a blood sample from him, which showed that he had 145mg of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The man’s three-year-old child suffered an abrasion on the scalp, while the older one complained of abdominal pain.