By Khushwant Singh
A CITYCAB cabby was so intent on looking out for customers that
he ran down a Thai worker along Kallang Road at about 3.30am on
July 22 last year.
Although the traffic lights at the pedestrian crossing were in
the taxi's favour, a group of four Thai construction workers were
crossing the road. Mr Khwathijak Amornsak, 38, who was walking in
front of his friends, was the only one hit.
The cabby stopped and drove the severely injured Thai and his
three friends to Raffles Hospital. Mr Amornsak was by then
unconscious and not breathing. Resuscitation attempts by medical
proved futile and he was declared dead at 4.15am.
On Thursday, the cabby, Lester Fernandez Ng, 50, was fined
$8,000 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for five years
for causing the death by a negligent act.
Investigations revealed that the Thais had been drinking beer at
a coffee shop in Beach Road and were walking back to their
dormitory in Kallang Road.
Pleading for leniency for Ng, defence counsel N.K. Rajarh said
that his client, a divorcee, was a bankrupt and driving the taxi
was his only source of income. His hiring arrangements with CityCab
had been terminated a day after the accident and Ng has been
unemployed since.