SINGAPORE: A taxi driver was charged on Friday (Jan 11) with causing the death of Ms Kathy Ong, a National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduate who was a passenger in his vehicle.
Yap Kok Hua, 55, is accused of a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, which is punishable with a maximum two-year jail term and a fine.
Advertisement[h=3]READ: 19-year-old NUS undergraduate dies after accident at Clementi Road junction[/h]He allegedly failed to give way to another car while turning right onto Clementi Road on Apr 19 last year.
According to his charge sheet, the car had been going straight.
A passenger in his Premier taxi, 19-year-old NUS undergraduate Kathy Ong, was thrown partially out of the window from the rear seat and died in the accident.
AdvertisementAdvertisementShe had been pursuing a Bachelor of Environmental Studies and showed an interest in biodiversity.
[h=3]READ: Kathy was a ‘people person’, loved by many: Family, friends of NUS undergrad who died in Clementi taxi accident[/h]Another three NUS students in the taxi were injured and taken to hospital. The taxi driver himself was also taken to hospital, along with the car driver.
Ms Ong's mother told Channel NewsAsia after the accident that her daughter had been very filial and cared deeply for her family. Her father said in a Facebook post that she had written down how she imagined her funeral to be, before the tragic accident.
Although he had initially felt it was "weird and inauspicious" for a 19-year-old to write about her own death, he wrote: "Now, looking at you ... I am thankful you wrote it. It's the closest I can get to hearing you because I never had the chance to have a last word with you."
Yap will be back in court next month.
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