Jail for lorry driver who collided into stationary truck on PIE, caused deaths of 2 migrant workers

SINGAPORE — While driving along an expressway, a lorry driver failed to keep a lookout and notice a stationary truck on a road shoulder, hitting it and causing the death of two migrant workers who were passengers in the lorry.

Vellaichami Prabu, 37, was sentenced to 12 months' jail on Monday (Nov 28), after pleading guilty to one charge of driving without due care and attention, with two other charges taken into consideration during sentencing. 

Prabu, an Indian national, was employed as a site supervisor and driver for Bright Asia Construction firm at the time. 

On April 20 last year at about 5.45am, Prabu drove a lorry to 70 Tuas South Avenue 1 to pick up 17 workers from the company. 

The two workers who later died — Sugunan Sudheeshmon, 28, and Tofazzal Hossain, 33, — were seated on the left side of the lorry’s cargo bed and closest to the lorry’s cabin, while the other 15 passengers sat at the rear cargo bed. 

At about 6am, Prabu was driving on the fourth lane of a four-lane road along the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).

As the lorry approached the Jalan Bahar exit, the expressway widened into five lanes and this was when he switched to the fifth lane because he wanted to take the exit. 

However, he failed to keep a proper lookout and noticed a stationary waste collection truck only when it was two lorry lengths ahead of him. 

The driver of the truck had stopped at the road shoulder and switched on the vehicle’s hazard lights due to a tyre puncture. 

Although the driver stopped the truck along the road shoulder, it partially protruded into the last lane, where Prabu’s lorry was travelling.

The court heard that this was because the road shoulder was relatively narrow. 

Upon seeing the truck, Prabu tried to swerve but was unable to avoid the collision. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jason Chua said that the truck was stationary for at least 17 seconds before the lorry collided into it and that when the incident happened, the traffic was light, the weather was clear and the road dry.

The collision left two workers dead, while the other 15 passengers suffered various forms of injuries, with eight suffering fractures. 

A report from Ng Teng Fong General Hospital showed that paramedics took around 30 minutes to extricate one of the workers. 

He went into cardiac arrest and later died despite paramedics performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him. He was bleeding from both ears and suffered a skull fracture. 

The second man who died was taken to the National University Hospital after he was extricated from the lorry, but he was unresponsive to treatment. He had several injuries including hip fractures and brain damage. 

In court, DPP Chua sought a sentence of 10 to 15 months’ jail. 

Prabu’s lawyer, Mr Edmund Nathan from Lions Chambers LLC, said that this proposed sentence was “manifestly excessive” and sought a sentence not exceeding five months' jail instead.

The lawyer said that his client was not driving at a fast pace and was keeping to the speed limit. 

"And because of the sheer size of the truck, it encroached onto the fifth lane where my client was travelling,” he added. 

However, DPP Chua said: “The waste collection truck should have been obvious to the accused as its hazard lights were also turned on.” 

District Judge Salina Ishak sentenced Prabu to 12 months' jail. He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences, as well as driving all classes of vehicles for eight years. 

For causing death due to careless driving, Prabu could have been fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to three years, or both.