Beatty Secondary vice-principal gets jail for driving car into market stall

SINGAPORE: The vice-principal of Beatty Secondary School was sentenced to 10 days' jail and banned from driving for 30 months on Wednesday (Dec 26) for crashing his vehicle into a market last year, injuring three.

Lim Soon Wai, 52, pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt to 58-year-old florist Yeo Lee Eng and her friend Toh Cheng Hai, 66.

Another charge of causing hurt to Ms Sri Atun Lestari, a 33-year-old Indonesian domestic worker buying flowers from the stall, was taken into consideration.

The court heard that Lim was trying to reverse his vehicle into a car park lot at the hawker centre at Block 50A Marine Terrace past noon on Dec 9 last year.

While he was reversing into an empty lot, he switched gears to drive forward, but could not control his car. It surged forward, mounting a kerb and crashing head-on into a stall selling flowers.

The impact threw Mr Toh on his back, while the two women fainted upon the crash.

The three victims were taken to Changi General Hospital, with Mr Toh sustaining a crushing injury to his foot, which is now deformed and permanently disabled.

The florist fractured her ankle and sustained a partial tear in a shoulder tendon, while the maid at the stall suffered from giddiness and an abrasion.

A mechanical inspection conducted on Lim's car found no evidence of mechanical fault or abnormality.

The judge granted Lim a deferment of his sentence till Jan 15.

In response to Channel NewsAsia's queries, the Ministry of Education (MOE) confirmed that Lim was still employed by the ministry. MOE added that it takes a "serious view" of misconduct by its employees.

"(MOE) will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline," said a ministry spokesperson.

"As Mr Lim is an MOE staff, we will review the case based on our internal disciplinary processes."