Seven months' jail for his part in car saleswoman's death
Thursday October 25, 2007
Nazry Bahrawi
[email protected]
HIS recklessness while driving a sports car caused the death of his
passenger, a car saleswoman. For that rash act, Regan Lee Da Wen
(picture), 26, will now have to spend seven months in jail and will
be banned from driving for 10 years.
Two years ago, he was behind the steering wheel of a Mazda MX-5
during a test drive when his vehicle flew over a road divider along
Upper Paya Lebar Road, crashing into a BMW and a van on the other
side of the road.
Although he escaped with minor injuries, the crash resulted in the
death of car saleswoman Angelia He Xueli, 22.
While he was initially charged with causing a death, Lee later
pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of committing a rash act, which
carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment, or fine, or
both.
In his mitigation plea, defence lawyer Julian Tay, who had argued
for a jail term of not more than three months, said Lee had lost
control of the car while negotiating a bend in the road. The lawyer
described the road as "uneven, sandy and covered with metal plates
due to construction works" for the Circle Line.
But court documents also said that Lee was driving at more than
90kmh about twice that road's legal speed limit.
Mr Tay said his client had offered "his full and unqualified
apology" to the deceased's family.
In April, the online motoring community had expressed anger that
Lee was allowed to drive while investigations were in
progress.
The reaction came after Lee wrote in an online motoring forum that
he was on the lookout for a fast car, and could not decide between
a Subaru WRX and a Volkswagen Golf GTI.
But Mr Tay said his client's comments, as reported in The Straits
Times, were "taken out of context" because Lee had been shopping
for a car before the accident, but shelved his plans to do so for
more than a year due to the "trauma" he experienced because of the
accident.
Mr Tay added that Lee's family has received hate mail and threats
"ranging from
burning down their house to beating up his
mother".
A lawyer told Today that in his view, the seven-month jail sentence
seemed "a little bit harsh". However, the lawyer added, in Lee's
case, there could have been aggravating factors, such as the fact
that he was driving above the legal speed limit.
