11 years’ jail upheld for drink driver in fatal crash; appeals by defence and prosecution dismissed

The driver’s two young children, who were in the back seat at the time, were also hurt in the April 2023 crash.

Published Sep 07, 2026, 07:08 PM

Updated Sep 07, 2026, 07:10 PM

The High Court upheld an 11-year jail sentence for a drink driver whose crash fatally severed a pedestrian’s body and injured his two young children in April 2023.

Both defence and prosecution appeals to alter the sentence were dismissed; the court balanced sentencing discounts against voluntary restitution and procedural factors.

The driver had consumed alcohol before driving with his children, hit a pedestrian crossing the road near Tan Kah Kee MRT, and was found with 145mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

SINGAPORE - The High Court on Sept 7 upheld the jail sentence of 11 years imposed on a drink driver who crashed into a pedestrian at such a high speed that the 64-year-old man’s body was instantly severed by the impact.

Justice Christopher Tan dismissed the appeals of both the prosecution and defence against the jail sentence that was handed down by a district judge on Feb 2 .

The 46-year-old Australian, who is a Singapore permanent resident, had pleaded guilty to one charge for dangerous driving and one charge for drink driving.

He is not named due to a gag order covering the identities of his children and their relationship with him.

On Aug 11, both the defence and the prosecution appealed only against the 11-year term for the dangerous driving charge.

The defence argued for a lower sentence of six years and four months to eight years’ jail, while the prosecution urged the court to increase the jail term to 12 years and nine months.

The judge said that there was some merit in both appeals.

He added: “However, I have dismissed the appeals because the collective result of allowing both of them is that the imprisonment term remains largely the same as that imposed by the (district judge).”

The district judge had arrived at the 11-year jail term by pegging the starting jail term to 16 years and applying a 30 per cent discount.

Singapore’s Sentencing Advisory Panel sets out the different ranges of reduction in sentence that a court can grant based on the stage at which the offender pleads guilty. In general, the earlier the plea, the greater the reduction in sentence.

Tan said he would have pegged the starting term to 14 years instead as some of the sentencing factors should be “tempered downwards”.

One of the reasons for the downward adjustment was the voluntary restitution of more than $56,000 that the offender had made to the family of the pedestrian.

This information came to light only during the appeal hearing, and was not before the district judge.

On the other hand, Tan also agreed with the prosecution that the 30 per cent sentencing discount was too high, given the procedural history of this case.

He thus declined to disturb the sentence, noting that a 20 per cent discount on the starting point of 14 years resulted in a little over 11 years, which was what the district judge imposed.

This meant the offender’s sentence remained unchanged - 11 years’ jail, a fine of $12,000 and a 15-year driving ban.

The offender was allowed to start his sentence on Sept 14, after his lawyer, Mr Shashi Nathan, said his client had a minor wrist surgery scheduled on Sept 10.

On April 23, 2023, the man drove to a birthday party in Turf Club Road in the Bukit Timah area with his children at around 10am.

He drank severa l glasses of wine at the event, and had his final drink at around 1.30pm.

Shortly before 2pm, he secured his children, then aged three and four, in booster seats in the rear of the car and drove off.

The man felt lethargic as he had stayed up at night to look after his newborn baby and had taken an antihistamine that morning.

At around 2pm, the man drove the car along Dunearn Road towards Bukit Timah Road, which had a speed limit of 70kmh.

The vehicle was near Tan Kah Kee MRT station when the pedestrian, a 64-year-old retiree, was standing by the roadside ahead, less than 100m away from an overhead bridge.

The pedestrian crossed more than two lanes of Dunearn Road when the car barrelled into him.

It was only after the crash that the driver realised that he had hit a person. He jammed his brakes, and the car veered into the centre lane of Dunearn Road.

By then, the children were crying loudly from the impact of the crash, which also shattered both the front and rear windscreens of the car.

The offender then alerted the police, and officers who arrived at the scene arrested him after he failed a preliminary breath test.

The authorities later obtained a blood sample from him, which showed that he had 145mg of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The man’s three-year-old child suffered an abrasion on the scalp, while the older one complained of abdominal pain.

2023 年 4 月的这起车祸中，当时坐在后座的司机的两个年幼的孩子也受了伤。

发布于 2026 年 9 月 7 日下午 7:08

更新于2026年9月7日晚上7:10

高等法院维持了对一名酒后驾车司机的 11 年监禁判决，该司机在 2023 年 4 月发生的车祸中导致一名行人身亡，其两个年幼的孩子受伤。

辩方和检方要求更改判决的上诉均被驳回；法院权衡了量刑折扣与自愿赔偿和程序因素。

司机在开车带着孩子之前饮酒，在陈嘉庚地铁站附近撞倒了一名过马路的行人，经检测，其血液中酒精含量为每100毫升145毫克。

新加坡——9月7日，高等法院维持了对一名酒后驾车司机判处的11年监禁。该司机高速撞向一名行人，导致这名64岁男子的身体瞬间被撞击而断裂。

克里斯托弗·谭法官驳回了控辩双方对地方法官 2 月 2 日判处的监禁刑罚的上诉。

这位46岁的澳大利亚人是新加坡永久居民，他承认了一项危险驾驶罪和一项酒后驾驶罪。

由于一项禁止透露其子女身份及其与他关系的禁令，因此他的名字未被公开。

8月11日，辩方和控方都只对危险驾驶罪的11年刑期提出上诉。

辩方请求判处六年零四个月至八年有期徒刑，而检方则敦促法庭将刑期增加至十二年零九个月。

法官表示，两项上诉都有一定道理。

他补充道：“但是，我驳回了上诉，因为允许这两项上诉的综合结果是，监禁刑期与（地区法官）判处的刑期基本相同。”

地区法官将起始刑期定为 16 年，并给予 30% 的折扣，最终判处 11 年监禁。

新加坡量刑咨询委员会规定了法院可根据被告认罪阶段的不同，给予的不同减刑幅度。一般来说，认罪越早，减刑幅度越大。

谭表示，他原本会将起始刑期定为 14 年，因为一些量刑因素应该“适当减轻”。

下调处罚的原因之一是，肇事者已向行人家属自愿赔偿了超过 56,000 美元。

这条信息是在上诉听证会上才被发现的，此前地区法官并不知道这些信息。

另一方面，谭也同意控方的观点，认为考虑到本案的程序历史，30%的量刑折扣过高。

因此，他拒绝更改判决，并指出，从 14 年的起始刑期减刑 20% 后，刑期略多于 11 年，这与地区法官的判决一致。

这意味着罪犯的刑罚保持不变——11 年监禁、12000 美元罚款和 15 年驾驶禁令。

9 月 14 日，该罪犯获准开始服刑，此前他的律师沙希·纳坦先生表示，他的当事人已安排在 9 月 10 日进行一次手腕小手术。

2023年4月23日上午10点左右，该男子带着孩子开车前往武吉知马赛马场路参加生日聚会。

他在活动中喝了好几杯葡萄酒，最后一杯大约是在下午 1 点 30 分喝的。

下午 2 点前不久，他把当时三岁和四岁的孩子安置在汽车后座的增高座椅上，然后开车离开了。

由于前一天晚上熬夜照顾新生儿，加上早上服用了抗组胺药，这名男子感到昏昏欲睡。

下午 2 点左右，该男子驾驶汽车沿杜尼安路驶向武吉知马路，该路段限速 70 公里/小时。

当时这辆车靠近陈嘉庚地铁站，而一名 64 岁的退休行人正站在前方路边，距离一座高架桥不到 100 米。

行人横穿了杜尼安路两条车道后，汽车猛烈撞向了他。

直到撞车后，司机才意识到自己撞到了人。他猛踩刹车，汽车偏离车道，驶入了杜尼安路的中央车道。

这时，孩子们因为撞击的冲击而大声哭喊，汽车的前后挡风玻璃也都被撞碎了。

随后，该违法者报警，赶到现场的警员在他未能通过初步呼吸测试后将其逮捕。

当局随后提取了他的血液样本，结果显示他每 100 毫升血液中含有 145 毫克酒精。

该男子的三岁孩子头皮擦伤，而年龄较大的孩子则抱怨腹痛。