43 year old Gillain Liew Shue Ying was slapped with a fine of $4,000 and also banned for five years from driving all classes of vehicles today (15 Feb) after she admitted to driving without due care and attention under the Road Traffic Act which caused grievous hurt.
This was after an incident in front of Parliament house in 2021, when the vehicle which Gillain was driving in crashed into a pedestrian because she failed to lookout when turning right.
As a result of her actions, the victim who works at the Supreme Court nearby the place of accident received many fractures and was subsequently given 49 days of hospitalisation leave for his injuries.
Clear visibility when accident happened
The victim, Paul Tan Wei Chean, was crossing the road at the pedestrian crossing on 5 April 2021 at around 6pm.
He had the right of way to cross the road at that time when Gillain crashed into him while making a right turn from High Street towards Parliament Place.
At the time of the incident, it was raining slightly which made the road surface wet but the traffic was not heavy and there were no problems with visibility.
A passerby who was also crossing the road called the Police after hearing a loud thud and seeing that Tan was injured and bleeding.
Diagnosed with multiple fractures
At Singapore General Hospital (SGH) where Tan was taken to, he was diagnosed with a dislocation of the right shoulder as well as fractures to his eye sockets and face along with other injuries.
His deep eyebrow cut was treated by a team who is trained in plastic and reconstructive surgery.
Doctors said that his shoulder injury will take three to six months to recover and during this period of time, it will affect his daily activities.
He was thereafter hospitalised for five days and upon discharge was given 49 days of hospitalisation leave.
Gillain fully cooperated with authorities
A fine of $5,000 was asked for by the prosecutor who said that Tan had the right of way but however, Gillain had a good record in driving and low culpability.
While under investigation, she had fully cooperated with the authorities and had helped Mr Tan immediately after the accident.
Her defense asked for a $4,000 fine instead arguing that her record for the past 26 years was untainted and she had learnt a good lesson from the incident.
The extra $1,000 lesser would also be useful in going to her young daughter’s medical expenses due to her poor health and during the time of the accident, her helper had just informed her that her daughter was having a fever.
For her actions, she could have been given an imprisonment term of up to two years and/or fined up to $5,000.
Image source: Google Maps