The case of eight teenagers who died in a car accident while riding modified bicycles “basikal lajak”.Sentenced today in the Johor Bahru High Court, Judge Dato Abubakar convicted the defendant, Sam Ke Ting, of negligent driving causing death.
The defendant was sentenced to six years in jail, fined RM6,000 and had his driving licence revoked for three years after serving the sentence.
The judge also directed the defendant to serve the sentence immediately until the appeal is granted.
The defendant’s lawyer, Faizah, requested a stay of sentence to appeal after the sentence was handed down, but the judge did not allow it.
Prior to that, the trial court had twice acquitted Sam Ke Ting , but this morning the High Court overturned the original verdict.
The judge said the defendant should have been aware of the darkness and slowed down instead of driving fast when he read the verdict earlier.
He said that the defendant did not argue that other vehicles were involved in the accident.
The accident occurred at 3:20 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2017, when a group of teenagers riding a modified bicycle on the road in Johor Bahru were hit, killing eight of them.
She was charged under Section 41(1) of the Land Transport Act 1987 (causing death by negligent driving). After a 2-year trial, she was acquitted on October 28, 2019, but the prosecution appealed to the Johor Bahru High Court on November 10, 2019.
The High Court judge granted leave to reopen the case on February 18, 2021, and the case was handed down on October 10, 2021, with the verdict of acquittal and recall of the driver’s license on the grounds that the prosecution had not provided sufficient and reasonable evidence.
However, the prosecution did not agree with the verdict and filed a second appeal to the High Court on October 12, 2021.
