SINGAPORE: A lawyer was on Thursday (Jun 19) charged with multiple offences, including drink driving, careless driving and giving false information to police officers, over a road traffic incident that occurred last year.
Steven John Lam Kuet Keng, the director of Templars Law, was handed a total of five charges in the State Courts over the Apr 7, 2024, incident in which a car he was allegedly driving crashed into guard railings.
At around 12.25am on the day of the incident, Lam, 55, is said to have had no less than 61 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, which exceeded the prescribed limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath while driving a car along Bukit Panjang Road towards Choa Chu Kang Road.
While driving along Bukit Panjang Road, Lam allegedly failed to have proper control of his car, resulting in the vehicle veering to the right and mounting the right kerb before colliding into nine portions of guard railings in the centre of the road. He was given a charge of driving without due care and attention over this collision.
According to his charge sheet, Lam was previously convicted of drink driving on Oct 25, 2006, and speeding in 1999, and could therefore be liable for punishment as a repeat offender.
Lam then allegedly failed to take reasonable steps to inform the owner of the damaged government property after crashing into the guardrails.
After the incident, at about 12.49am, while still in the vicinity of Bukit Panjang Road, Lam allegedly gave false information to a police officer by saying that he was not the driver of the car that was involved in the accident, and that an unknown person had been driving the vehicle.
Later, at about 4.57am, at the Traffic Police Headquarters, Lam allegedly gave false information to an investigation officer in a statement, claiming again that he was not the driver of the car, which had been driven by an unknown person.
No plea indication was taken from him. Lam’s case will return to court on Jul 17.
In the case of a second conviction for drink driving, a person may be fined between S$5,000 (US$3,900) and S$20,000, and jailed for up to two years.
For driving without due care and attention, a repeat offender could be jailed for up to 12 months, fined up to S$3,000, or both.
Those convicted of traffic offences could also be disqualified from driving.
Those who give false information to a public servant can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.
Those who fail to take reasonable steps to inform the owner of damaged property about the damage can be fined up to S$1,000 or jailed for up to three months for a first offence.
