A 26-year-old Malaysian woman, Phoo Yi Lin, who is linked to the now-infamous fiery car crash at Tanjong Pagar on 13 February 2021 that killed 5 men and seriously injured one person, was charged last month for dangerous driving and she pleaded guilty.
She was fined $5,000 on Monday (3 April) as well as banned from driving for three years, according to The Straits Times.
She had admitted to taking the wheel and driving the white BMW M4 before alighting from the car, and the deceased Jonathan Long then took over the wheel before crashing and dying.
Court documents stated that Phoo had driven the car along Tanjong Pagar Road at a speed of about 109km/h, with the speed limit being 50km/h, and District Judge Salina Ishak noted that Phoo had consumed alcohol before driving the car.
Phoo had applied to leave Singapore on 16 March but her request was rejected by the court.
The driver, Jonathan Long Junwei, 29; and his four passengers, Eugene Yap Zheng Min, 29; Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28; Teo Qi Xiang, 26; and Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29, all died from severe burns in the accident, while Long’s girlfriend Raybe Oh suffered serious burns while trying to save him from the burning wreckage.
Recap
The 5 men were at a house gathering in Ang Mo Kio for Chinese New Year celebrations.
They had drunk alcohol before deciding to have supper at Tanjong Pagar because they commonly hang out there.
All the eateries in the area were closed, so they then decided to go to Hong Jjajang restaurant, with was owned by Park Se Jin, who had the key to the restaurant.
Park opened the restaurant and the group then went in and continued to drink alcohol. Present at the restaurant were three other women, including Raybe Oh and Phoo Yi Lin.
Phoo was the one who took a video of the accident that was later admitted into evidence, while Oh was seen in viral videos running into the fire to help the people in the burning car.
The group then decided to leave at about 4am as Long wanted to show his new car to his friends, and the group was “excited” about it.
Insisted on seeing who could drive faster
They then followed Long and got into his car, and the car was then driven on three rounds, with the group taking turns to drive it each time.
The car finished the first three rounds with no incidents, with Yap driving on the first round, Park on the 2nd round and Phoo on the 3rd round.
Long, who was outside watching the first three rounds, was reportedly very persuasive and “insisted” on competing to see who was faster.
Long then took the wheel on the fourth round, before the ultimately crashed and killed them all.
As reported yesterday, Long was found with 86mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, above the legal limit of 80mg, indicating that he was drink driving.
He was also going at 148km/hr at an area with a speed limit of 50km/hr.