THE couple first met at a coffee shop in Yishun when she was working as a beer promoter and he was a regular customer.

On Monday night, Sim Yee Ling, 33, and her husband Simon Tan, 42, were seen together for the last time at a coffee shop in the area with their two young children.

The family of four were headed back to their Ang Mo Kio home after dinner when their white Honda sedan skidded and crashed into a tree at about 1.15am.

The accident occurred at the junction of Lentor Avenue towards Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 and left the vehicle badly damaged.

Ms Sim, a housewife, suffered head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Tan, who was the driver, has been arrested for causing death by a rash act.

Ms Sim was born in Ipoh, Malaysia. She married Tan, a Singaporean, in 2012 and later quit her job as a promoter to care for her two sons, aged 3 and 6.

Neighbours said the family had moved into their three-room flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 about three years ago.

But the couple remained a familiar sight at the Yishun coffee shop where they had met, a customer told Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao yesterday.

They frequented another coffee shop in the neighbourhood, where they had been having dinner with friends before driving home that night.

Ms Sim was seated in the back of the car with her oldest son who suffered spinal injuries.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min Daily News

The younger boy sustained head injuries and was admitted to the intensive care unit at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Both boys were believed to be in stable condition yesterday.

Tan, who suffered a brain haemorrhage, was in intensive care at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

Speaking at Ms Sim’s wake in Sin Ming Drive yesterday, Tan’s older brother said he had undergone surgery and his condition remains serious.

“We have many concerns now. Who will look after the two children?” said the brother who declined to be fully named.

Neighbours described the boys as polite and well-behaved. Ms Sim was quiet but would often invite other children to her house, said a neighbour, Madam Ng. The retiree, who would see them playing in the corridor, said: “It’s so quiet today without them around.”

Said Siti Nurulizzati, a 13-year-old student living on the same floor: “My cousins and I would go to their house almost every day to play with toys.”

Experts advised that infants and toddlers should be securely buckled in car seats.

Older ones should use booster seats.

Singapore Safety Driving Centre training manager, Gerard Pereira, added: “All children should also be in the back seat. They are smaller in size and more vulnerable to the impact of an accident, regardless of the speed of the car.”

nghuiwen@sph.com.sg

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