5 days' detention for man after his PMD hit woman, who had skull fracture and bleeding around brain

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Dec 19, 2022

A man was sentenced to a five-day short detention order on Monday for causing a pedestrian to fracture her skull in a fall after his personal mobility device (PMD) struck her.

Offenders given such a punishment are put behind bars for a short time, but they will not have a criminal record after their release.

Ong Kwan Yun, 21, pleaded guilty in September to offences including causing grievous hurt to the 46-year-old woman by riding the PMD in a negligent manner.

The device weighed nearly 30kg – exceeding the legal limit of 20kg – when Ong rode it along a sheltered walkway in Boon Lay Avenue at around 1pm on March 23.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Zhi Hao said Ong was moving at a speed that caused him to lose control of his device. The actual speed was not disclosed in court documents.

DPP Tan said: “The force of the collision caused the victim to fly off the ground and land on her back, with the back of her head hitting the ground first. The victim lost consciousness momentarily.”

She also suffered memory loss and developed a speech impediment after the incident.

DPP Tan added that Ong had initially remained at the scene and called out to the woman, who did not respond. He did not make any further checks on her or her injuries. Unsure of what to do, Ong left for his girlfriend’s home.

The victim regained consciousness soon after and discovered that she could not move. She was also bleeding from her right arm.

Several people came forward to help her and one of them called for an ambulance.

The woman was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where she was found to have a fractured skull and internal bleeding around the brain. She was later given 132 days of hospitalisation leave.

Ong was arrested on March 25 after the police established his identity, aided by closed-circuit television footage.