January 20, 2010
By Selina Lum from Straits Times
A 59-YEAR-OLD doctor who appealed against her two-week jail term
for drink driving has had the sentence reduced to a $5,000
fine.
Dr Irene Lim Kay Hian, a senior consultant radiologist at the KK
Women’s and Children’s Hospital, looked relieved after her appeal
was allowed. She remains banned from driving for four years.
Justice Chao Hick Tin said he will give written reasons for his
decision at a later date.
Dr Lim’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Sant Singh, argued that her
decision to drive was not deliberate but arose out of her
distraught state when she got a phone call in the middle of the
night saying that a close aunt was in a bad state in hospital.
On her way to the National University Hospital, Dr Lim’s car
stalled along the Pan Island Expressway near the Clementi Avenue 6
exit.
A patrol officer with the Expressway Monitoring Advisory System
who checked on the car, noticed the woman smelt of alcohol and the
Traffic Police was called in. A breathalyser test at the police
station showed she had 129 mcg of alcohol per 100 ml of breath,
nearly four times the legal limit of 35 mcg. – Straits Times