Jail and driving ban for teen motorcyclist linked to LTA officer’s fatal crash

Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 24 Jan 2025
Author: Christine Tan

The court said that given the teen’s numerous and serious offences, probation – which would usually apply to youth offenders – was not appropriate in this case.

A 19-year-old who was in a motorcycle chase that killed a Land Transport Authority (LTA) officer has been sentenced to two years and three months’ jail, and six strokes of the cane. He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for five years after his release.

Handing down the sentence on Jan 23, Deputy Principal District Judge Kessler Soh said that given the teen’s numerous and serious offences, probation – which would usually apply to youth offenders – was not appropriate in this case.

The youth, who is in remand and joined court proceedings via video-link, remained silent as his sentence was read.

The sentence was for six charges he admitted to on Jan 10, including riding a motorcycle in a dangerous manner and drug consumption. Seven other charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Specifically, the teen was sentenced to seven months’ jail for the offence involving the LTA officer.

He cannot be named as he was 17 years old when he consumed methamphetamine. Those below 18 are protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.

On June 4, 2024, he rode a motorcycle along the Seletar Expressway in a dangerous manner to evade LTA enforcement officer Zdulfika Ahakasah, 26, who had ordered him to stop. Mr Zdulfika crashed his motorcycle while chasing him and subsequently died in hospital.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Thaddeus Tan said the teen did not stop for the LTA officer despite being signalled to do so, as he knew he was wanted by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) for a previous drug offence.

He also did not have a valid licence to ride the motorcycle, which belonged to his cousin.

Footage of the incident, taken from the body-worn camera that Mr Zdulfika was wearing while on duty, was played in court.

It showed Mr Zdulfika instructing the teen to stop on the side of the expressway, which he did. But a few seconds later, the teen sped up and suddenly cut into the path of an oil tanker and rode across the chevron marking of an expressway divider.

While pursuing the teen, Mr Zdulfika crashed into a road divider and was flung off his motorcycle.

DPP Tan said that even though the teen knew Mr Zdulfika had crashed his bike, he kept going and did not look back.

The prosecution added that the teen had demonstrated a clear lack of remorse, saying: “When he was first brought to court, he was given the chance to publicly express his thoughts over what had happened. Instead, he took the opportunity to deflect blame.”

On June 6, 2024, when the teen was first charged, he told the court: “I gambled my life as much as he gambled his. The death – I may be one of the contributing factors for the death, but I am not to be blamed.”

In mitigation, defence lawyer Foo Ho Chew said his client wanted to apologise for making that statement.

“He would like to say sorry to the family of the deceased, and he acknowledges that it was insensitive at that time. If there was a way, he would like to retract the statement,” said Mr Foo.

“He was only 18 then and was severely lacking in maturity. He did not have the state of mind to sense how wrong he was.”

DPP Tan said the teen was persistent in offending, having committed 13 offences in a span of 10 months, including the offence of riding a motorcycle in a dangerous manner.

He had also given his Singpass credentials to an unknown individual on Telegram who promised him a loan of $300. The teen did so as he needed money to support himself but could not do legitimate work as he was wanted by CNB.

Using the Singpass information, the unknown person created a Standard Chartered Bank account in the teen’s name and used it to receive and transfer out at least $299,867 in scam proceeds from a 70-year-old retiree.

The prosecution had sought a total sentence of two years and 3½ to 5½ months’ jail, six strokes of the cane and a five-year disqualification order for the teen.

Mr Foo had urged the court not to impose a sentence that would be so crushing on his client, adding that the teen, with strong support from his mother and sister, has potential to rehabilitate.