Man took rap for female friend in Pasir Ris accident ‘to be a gentleman’; gets S$5,000 fine

SINGAPORE — When his female friend lost her concentration while driving and mounted a road centre divider, Ong Chen Yang decided to shoulder the blame.

He later confessed to lying to the police because he wanted to be “a gentleman” and saw that his friend was crying.

Ong, 38, was on Monday (June 7) fined S$5,000 in court after pleading guilty to giving false information to a public servant.

The court heard that he met his friend Yu Jia, a Chinese national and Singapore permanent resident, in a pub on March 11 last year. Their occupations were not stated in court documents.

They left together around 1am.

She drove her car, with Ong in the passenger seat. Court documents did not specify their destination.

While talking, Yu drove over the centre divider on Pasir Ris Street 71 and her car got stuck in the middle of the road. They called a towing service to move the vehicle away.

A passer-by saw the car and called the police, saying that Yu and Ong were not injured but that the car was stuck.

Two police officers turned up at about 2am. Noticing that the car was about to be towed while Yu and Ong were walking away, one of the officers stopped them.

Ong told the officer: “Sorry, sorry, I am the driver, I am the driver.”

On further questioning, he maintained that he had been behind the wheel. 

Ong told the officers that he had been driving and was too engrossed in his conversation with Yu, and did not realise that the car had veered near the centre divider.

He also said that he had drunk alcohol before driving. He failed a breathalyser test and was arrested for suspected drink-driving.

When the officers looked for Yu, they realised that she had already left the scene.

Ong was taken to the Traffic Police headquarters in Ubi, where he repeated his claims to an investigation officer.

The next day, the investigation officer took another statement from him and he finally admitted that he had lied.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sarah Siaw told the court: “He said he had lied because he had wanted to be a gentleman and decided to take the rap when he saw that the co-accused was crying.” 

Yu has not yet been dealt with under the law. 

Ong could have been jailed for up to two years or fined, or given both penalties.