After Prosecution Appealed, A Drink Driver Who Dented Another Car In Petir Road While Parallel Parking Gets Jail.

A drink driver who collided with another car while reversing into a parallel parking lot near Block 220 Petir Road in Bukit Panjang has had his fine replaced with a two-week jail term after the prosecution successfully appealed. The driver, Cheng Chang Tong, pleaded guilty to two charges in a district court, receiving a fine of SGD4,000 ($2,950) and a 30-month driving ban for careless driving and another SGD7,000 fine and a three-year driving ban for drink driving.

However, the prosecution deemed the fine to be ‘manifestly inadequate’ and appealed, seeking three weeks’ jail and three years’ disqualification for the careless driving offence. In his ruling, Justice See Kee Oon stated that Cheng was a serious and repeat offender, pointing to his two prior convictions in 1998 and 2004 for speeding, and found that the lower court judge had incorrectly placed the case in a less serious band of the sentencing framework.

Justice See also found that the district judge had not considered Cheng’s compounded offences, such as inconsiderate driving and crossing double white lines. Additionally, Cheng had failed to inform the victim of the damage and provide his particulars, but claimed he waited a while and could not write a note as he was illiterate, which Justice See rejected as an attempt to downplay the related charge.