Ferrari driver who punched motorist to appeal jail sentence, disqualification

SINGAPORE — A 72-year-old woman has been sentenced to four weeks’ jail and disqualified from driving for six months for punching a motorist who had refused to make way for her red Ferrari.

Shi Ka Yee intends to appeal against her conviction and sentence, the court heard on Friday (March 16). She is out on bail of S$16,000, pending the appeal.

She had been back in court earlier this week, facing fresh charges of drink-driving, as well as failing to provide, without a reasonable excuse, a sample of her breath, in an incident which took place on Feb 1 last year. For these two charges, she will be back in court on April 4.

In sentencing Shi for the punching incident in 2014, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt agreed with the prosecution that this was a case of road rage, and that a custodial sentence was warranted.

Shi was convicted in August last year for punching Mr Raphael Chong Yen Ping, 40, after an altercation along Telok Ayer Street on Feb 25, 2014.

Mr Chong was waiting for a car-park lot on the evening of the assault when Shi pulled up beside him in her Ferrari and started honking at him.

When Mr Chong refused to move his bronze BMW, Shi became upset and later punched him while he was seated in the car, leaving him with a cut above his right eyebrow.

During a two-day trial last year, Shi claimed that that she had slapped, not punched, Mr Chong because he had used vulgarities on her.

District Judge Chay, however, rejected Shi’s testimony, noting that no profanities were used.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Zhuo Wenzhao urged the court on Friday to jail Shi for at least four weeks, and disqualify her from holding any drivers’ licence for six months.

He said that Shi had made “offensive allegations” against Mr Chong, by claiming he had hurled vulgarities at her, triggering the offence.

The prosecutor added that Shi’s lack of remorse during the trial was an aggravating factor that warranted an enhanced sentence.

Defence counsel Irving Choh, meanwhile, urged the court to impose a fine on his client, arguing that this was “not a clear-cut road rage case”.

He told the court: “The fact that she is driving a Ferrari has no bearing on this matter. It is always very convenient to say that (because) she was driving a flashy car (that) she could get away with (doing what she did).”

Separately, Shi also faces six other unrelated charges for offences committed in 2015 and 2016.

Four of them relate to a 2015 dispute with her neighbour over a raintree that grew from her home in Astrid Hill.

Two other charges relate to an incident on June 29, 2016, when she allegedly stopped her car between the third and fourth lanes of Orchard Road, just after the Claymore Road junction, obstructing traffic.

These charges will be dealt with at a later date.