Court upholds acquittal and discharge of saleswoman accused of reckless driving, killing 8 teens

JOHOR BAHRU: The Magistrate's Court, here, today acquitted and discharged a saleswoman of reckless driving in connection with the deaths of eight teenagers on modified bicycles, commonly known as "basikal lajak", four years ago.

This was after the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The decision on the appeal was made by magistrate Siti Hajar Ali after Sam Ke Ting, 26, was ordered to enter her defence at the High Court in February.

"After examining all the evidence presented and considering the submissions of the deputy public prosecutor and the accused's counsel at the end of the defence case, reasonable doubt arose.

"Hence, it has been decided that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, the accused is acquitted and discharged at the end of the defence case," she said.

In her judgment, Siti Hajar said her decision took into account the reasonable testimony of the accused that she had no knowledge of the riding activities on modified bicycles in the area and that there was no warning on such activities.

The magistrate also found that the accused's statement that she was in the extreme left lane of the incident's location in Jalan Lingkaran Dalam also concurred with the results of a study conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS), which found that the accused's vehicle was either driven at 44.5 kilometres (km) or 75.8 km per hour.

The court also ordered the accused's suspended driving licence be returned to her (Sam) immediately.

On Feb 18 this year, the High Court ordered Sam to enter her defence after the prosecution proved a prima facie case against the accused, thus setting aside the order made by the Magistrate's Court in October 2019 to acquit and discharge her.

On Oct 28, 2019, the Johor Bahru Magistrate's Court acquitted and discharged the saleswoman of the charge.

Sam who at the time of the incident was 22 years old, was charged with driving a car with registration number JQB 9984 in Jalan Lingkaran Dalam, here, recklessly or dangerously, resulting in the death of eight cyclists at 3.20 am on Feb 18, 2017.

The eight victims were Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14 (at the time of the incident), Muhamad Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Muhammad Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Mohamad Azhar Amir, 16; Muhammad Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Muhammad Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14 and Haizad Kasrin, 16.

Sam was charged under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333) which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of RM20,000, if convicted.

-- BERNAMA