Woman who drove car before fatal Tanjong Pagar crash to plead guilty to dangerous driving

SINGAPORE — A woman who drove a car shortly before a collision killed five people in Tanjong Pagar will plead guilty to dangerous driving.

Malaysian Phoo Yi Lin, 26, faces one charge of driving the car at about 109kmh along Tanjong Pagar Road on Feb 13, 2021 at around 5.35am. The speed limit was 50kmh.

She appeared in court on Thursday (March 16) to request permission to leave Singapore so that she can return to Malaysia to work, her lawyer Sunil Sudheesan told CNA.

Her request to leave jurisdiction was denied as she is considered a flight risk facing a serious offence, said Mr Sudheesan.

A hearing for her to plead guilty has been fixed on April 3. The punishment for dangerous driving is up to 12 months' jail, a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.

Phoo was one of three people to drive the BMW M4 Coupe shortly before the collision that claimed the lives of five people.

The owner of the car, Mr Jonathan Long Junwei, was driving the car with four passengers — Mr Eugene Yap Zheng Min, Mr Elvin Tan Yong Hao, Mr Teo Qi Xiang and Mr Gary Wong Hong Chieh — when the fatal crash occurred at about 5.40am.

Phoo was not in the car during the collision. She was an eyewitness along with others, including Long's girlfriend Ms Raybe Oh and Mr Park Se Jin, the owner of a restaurant that the group of friends was visiting on Tanjong Pagar Road.

Before the crash, Yap, Mr Park and Phoo had each taken turns driving the car around a circuit. They completed the circuit without incident for three rounds, before Long took the wheel on the fourth round.

According to the coroner's findings into the deaths, speed analysis showed that Yap had driven the circuit at between 75kmh and 88kmh, and Mr Park at between 52kmh and 59kmh.

The route saw the car go from Mr Park's restaurant on Tanjong Pagar Road towards Keppel, before making a U-turn at Enggor Street after Amara Hotel to return to Tanjong Pagar Road towards Maxwell. It then made another U-turn near 37 Tanjong Pagar Road to return to the restaurant.

On the fourth round of this circuit, Long lost control of the car along Tanjong Pagar Road.

The car skidded on its side towards a shophouse at 37 Tanjong Pagar Road, mounted the kerb and rear-ended a pillar. It was engulfed by flames seconds later, a coroner's court previously heard.

All five men in the car died of severe burns. Their deaths have been ruled a traffic misadventure. CNA