4-year-old girl run over by car in River Valley: Coroner flags importance of hand-holding when crossing roads

SINGAPORE: A four-year-old girl who was run over by a car while dashing across the road in River Valley died of head injuries, a coroner's court found on Friday (Jul 12), with the coroner reminding caregivers to always hold the hands of young children when crossing the road.

The girl, the second of three children, was heading home with her two-year-old sister and their 32-year-old domestic helper on Jan 23 this year when the tragic accident occurred.

The court heard that the Indonesian maid, who was not named, started working for the family in October 2023 and was tasked with cleaning, cooking and taking the children to and from school.

On the afternoon of Jan 23, the maid left the family's home at about 4.20pm to fetch the girl and her younger sister from their pre-school along River Valley Road.

As they walked home, the maid carried both girls' school bags and held onto the hand of the girl's younger sister.

She said she was not using any device and that the girl usually walked on her own and had been taught how to be safe.

The maid said she would usually hold the girl's hand but did not know why she did not do so on that day. She admitted that her employers had told her to hold the girl's hand, especially when crossing the road.

As the trio walked upslope along Institution Hill, they decided to cross the road. 

After crossing the first lane, the girl began running across to get to the pavement on the other side. She was not looking in the direction of oncoming traffic and the maid did not notice a vehicle coming from her left.

The maid was three steps away from the girl when a car driven by a 40-year-old Australian woman collided with the child in the second lane and ran over her leg and head.

The maid shouted loudly for the vehicle to stop, momentarily let go of the younger child and rushed to the girl, who was lying motionless and bleeding on the road.

THE DRIVER'S PERSPECTIVE

The driver alighted and stayed at the scene until the police and ambulance arrived, while the maid called the girls' father, who was working from home and rushed down.

The driver, who was not named, was on her way home after fetching her children from school and doing grocery shopping.

While making a right turn onto the slight upslope along Institution Hill from River Valley Road at about 5pm, the woman looked and noticed vehicles forming up on the opposite side of the road.

Suddenly, she felt that her vehicle had hit onto something and run over it.

She heard a loud scream and realised she had run over a small child. She immediately stopped her car and rushed to the girl, who was being held by a distraught, screaming maid.

The driver said she had not seen anyone crossing the road prior to the collision, and that she would have taken immediate precautions if she had.

An investigation by the traffic police showed that the woman was not going at a fast speed, and that the girl had appeared in in-vehicle footage for only one second before the collision occurred.

As the child was only 100cm tall, she was too short to be seen by the driver.
 
A receptionist at a school nearby made the first call to the Singapore Civil Defence Force after hearing a loud scream across the road and teachers rushed out to investigate.

The girl was rushed to Singapore General Hospital but her vitals were undetectable on arrival and she was not breathing. She had an open wound on her head and a skull injury, and was intubated and given intravenous adrenaline.

The girl's father was told that the girl had sustained severe head injuries and was unlikely to survive.

He told the medical team to continue resuscitating the girl until his wife arrived. However, when she got there at 6.20pm, the doctor told them that resuscitation efforts had been futile, and she was pronounced dead at about 6.45pm that day.

ACCOUNT FROM FATHER

The girl's father said he did not know why the maid had chosen to cross the road that day. 

He said the maid had been reminded to walk from the pre-school to the signalised pedestrian crossing after Institution Hill, as the pavement from the crossing would lead her to their home.

Instead, the maid had been taking the same route she took that day for several months.

The father said that the family had no major issues with the maid, other than some minor misunderstandings typical of employing foreign domestic helpers.

The maid said she had always cared deeply for her employers' children and never intended to cause any harm to them.

She said the girl's death had deeply saddened her as she did not expect such a tragic incident to occur.

Coroner Eddy Tham said this was a road-traffic related accident, a tragic accident which is "a timely reminder to caregivers of young children of the importance of road safety in that they must always hold the hand of a young child when crossing the road".

He said young children do not have a keen sense of road hazards and are prone to making quick movements.

This case also shows that young children can be obscured by other vehicles or objects nearby due to their smaller physical build.

"The need to be vigilant and to take utmost precaution cannot be over-emphasised," he said, conveying his sincere condolences to the girl's family over their untimely loss.

Despite previous reports mentioning "jaywalking" by the maid, the coroner made no mention of jaywalking in his findings. The court had earlier heard that the maid was "jaywalking" in the sense that she was not crossing at the proper junction, but it was legal as the proper pedestrian crossing was 200m away.

When approached by the media after the hearing, the family's lawyer Mr Alfred Lim said the family would be considering their legal options but said he could not specify what exactly at this juncture.

The woman driver is represented by lawyers from Damodora Ong's law firm. When approached by CNA, the lawyers said the driver had not been charged.

Editor's note: The names and other details relating to the victim and her family have been removed from this article after the court imposed a gag order on Oct 15, 2025.