Originally posted by jeffrey83:
WAs this reported in the news? anyone can elaborate more?? thanks
Crash nothing to do with me
[Extracted from The Straits Times on 30 June 2005]
That's what the cabby told everyone
He told taxi's owner that motorcyclist had lost control and crashed
By Elena Chong
THE story that cabby Wan Chin Hon (right), 57, told everyone who asked about the Feb 7 accident last year which killed a motorcyclist was this: He had nothing to do with it.
That was what he said to police when they contacted him almost immediately after the accident via the taxi registration records that day.
He said the same thing to the taxi's owner Choo Choon Bee, 69, who was anxious that police were searching for Wan.
The Yellow-Top taxi was impounded.
Wan had told him that motorcyclist Leong Weng Keong, 23, lost control of his machine, skidded and crashed into the kerb of the centre-divider along Lentor Avenue.
'He also told me that he was not involved in the accident and that the taxi was not damaged,' Mr Choo told the court on Day Three of Wan's culpable homicide trial yesterday.
He stuck to the 'not involved' story with Mr Ang Soon Hong, 65, the middleman who rented out the taxi to Wan, as well as Mr Tan Chin Ann, 61, a director of a motor repair workshop.
Wan claimed that he did not collide with the motorcyclist who had died, said Mr Tan.
The motorcyclist had 'siam' (Hokkien for trying to avoid) his taxi and crashed into the drain himself.
He also told Mr Ang of how his passenger, Miss Neo Yi Yan, 22, then a polytechnic student, wanted him to stop his taxi after the crash.
'He related that the female passenger had asked him to stop his taxi after the accident and to reverse his taxi to the scene but he refused.'
Wan is accused of causing Mr Leong's death by intentionally swerving his vehicle into the motorcylist's path - a charge he has denied.
The maximum penalty for the offence is 10 years' jail and a fine.
In his traffic accident report on Feb 23 last year to the Independent Damage Assessment Centre (Idac), Wan said he saw from his left wing mirror a motorcycle wanting to overtake him.
The motorcyclist swerved slightly to his right.
Suddenly, he heard a loud bang and saw from his mirror that the motorcycle, a bluish-green Yamaha, had landed on the road divider.
Ms Tham Seow Ling, 24, who was then an Idac customer service officer, told the court that Wan claimed the taxi was not damaged, there was no witness, and that he did not hit any kerb or stationary objects on the road.
But Police Logistics Department technical support officer Lim Chwee Hai, 48, said that he found the Nissan's rear right body panel and the door grazed after impact.
There were bluish-green paint marks on it.
Wan, who has more than 30 years' driving experience, has been in remand since he was charged in July last year.