Everyone must have heard of this tragedy from two years ago, where eight teenagers who were performing ‘basikal lajak’ stunts at 3am in the morning were killed in an accident by a car driven by a 22-year-old saleswoman.
Source: YouTube
While tragic, the incident caused an outrage amongst netizens and the nation was divided on who was actually at fault in this case.
According to Sinar Harian, after several sessions, the Magistrate Court in Johor Bahru released her from the reckless driving charge over the deaths of the teenagers.
Source: Astro Awani
Source: Malaysia Kini
The Magistrate, Siti Hajar Ali, released Sam Ke Ting, who is currently 24-year-old, without calling her to appeal after the lawsuit party failed to justify a prima facie case on the suspect at the end of the prosecution case.
Siti Hajar announced that the court have made the decision upon several standings including:
- The accident situated at a dark hilly road.
- The driver’s sight was obstructed by multiple corners, making her unable to predict the teenagers’ presence.
- The dangerous situation was created by the teenagers themselves at 3 am that day.
“According to the explanation given by the investigators, a big tree and the low lighted location may obstruct the suspect’s view even when there are lights by the road’s divider.”
“Everyone knew that the location is popular with the activity (basikal lajak) since basikal lajak races have been reported there a lot. It is natural for people who are used to the road to predict their presence, but that could only apply to the people who live in the area only. It wouldn’t be fair for people who rarely use the road or people who were not local residents,” she added.
The suspect was also said to have been driving responsibly during the accident as she was not under alcoholic influence, nor was she using her phone while driving. She was even wearing her seatbelt.
Siti Hajar said due to those findings, she would let the suspect to appeal but the suspect decided that she wanted to remain silent.
“The question is, would I question her under the evidences given by the lawsuit parties? My answer is no. Thus the suspect must be released without having to appeal.”
Upon that decision, the magistrate gave a stern reminder for parents to carefully supervise their children to avoid the same accident occurring again in the future. The police were also requested to be more strict when dealing with such activity.
Ke Ting was initially charged for driving a car with the registration number of JQB 9984 recklessly and dangerously at Jalan Lingkaran Dalam, and in so causing the death of eight bikers at 3.20 am, 18th February 2017.
The suspect caused the death of Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; 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.
She was charged under Section 41(1) Of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333), which provides punishment of up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to RM20,000, if the suspect is found guilty.
Ke Ting was charged in the same court back in 28th March 2017 and appealed that she was not guilty upon the charges.
Source: Astro Awani
The lawsuit was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Syafiq Mohd Ghazali, while the suspect was represented by a lawyer, Muhammad Faizal Mokhtar.
46 people have witnessed the trial since the first one held in August 2017, with 214 exhibits.
The court has also ordered for the suspect’s driving license to be returned immediately and the RM10,000 bail money to be returned to the guarantor.
It was really a grim tragedy but it should stand as a lesson to every parent out there to strictly supervise their children so that this awful tragedy does not repeat itself.
Also read: Young Malaysian Lady Who Rammed 8 Cyclists Resorts to Crowd Funding for Legal Fees
