She claimed they didn’t flee the accident scene.
And that they had left only because “someone had already called an ambulance”, and he wanted to accompany her home, as she was unwell.
“We didn’t flee,” said the girlfriend of the teen driver allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident at the junction of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 on Saturday that killed Madam Lau Lee Kiau, 46.
“(He) actually got out of the car and asked the woman on the ground: ‘You okay?’ and she nodded.
“As someone had already called the ambulance, (he) decided to see me home first.
“We hailed a taxi and he took me home,” the 15-year-old told Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News yesterday (May 26).
Madam Lau, a factory supervisor, was on her way to work that morning when the 17-year-old teen, who did not have a driver’s licence because he was underaged, crashed his car into the motorcycle she was riding pillion on.
The motorcyclist was the divorcee’s boyfriend, a 56-year-old plumber. His spine was fractured in two places and he broke his right leg and ankle in the accident.
The teen allegedly fled the scene, but was arrested later the same day. He is out on police bail.
Madam Lau died later at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and was cremated yesterday.
A harrowing 30-second video of the crash, captured by an in-car camera, was also put up on the Facebook pages of Shin Min Daily News and Roads.sg on Wednesday (May 25).
Under the law, motorists involved in an accident in which a person or animal is injured, or where another vehicle or structure is damaged, have to stop their vehicles. They must also render necessary assistance.
The penalty for hit-and-run accidents is a fine of up to $3,000 or up to 12 months’ jail.
The teen’s girlfriend said they had known each other for only two weeks and the youth was sending her home to Ang Mo Kio after she had spent the night at his flat in Redhill.
“It was the first time he drove me home. I was not well and was asleep in the car. The crash woke me up suddenly,” the girl said.
She said her boyfriend was still shaking from the shock of the accident while they were in the taxi on the way to her place.
“He was crying and blaming himself. After he saw me home, he told me he was going to the police to surrender himself,” she said, adding that she lost contact with him after that.
She had tried calling and texting him since Saturday, but to no avail because “he was probably in police custody”.
The girl said her boyfriend was guilt-stricken after the accident.
That was also how Mr Ong Jun Jie, the teen’s cousin, described him to The New Paper yesterday.
IN FEAR
“My cousin has not left his home for fear of what the public might do to him after what the netizens said online. They called him a murderer and a killer… My cousin is now very emotional and depressed about the whole thing,” said Mr Ong, who declined to give his age and occupation.
He added that the teen’s parents are considering taking him to the Institute of Mental Health for treatment and counselling.
When TNP asked to speak to the teen driver, Mr Ong said he would check with him. But by press time, he did not return our call.
Following the accident, Madam Lau’s son Toh Wei Xue, 17, told TNP that the driver, whom he called “heartless”, knew who he is and “he knows that I know that he is the culprit, but he has not even apologised”.
Both the driver’s girlfriend and cousin claimed he had wanted to but only returned home yesterday.
When contacted, police said the teen was arrested on the day of the accident and was released on police bail the same day.
juditht@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on May 27, 2016.
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