Ferrari driver, 73, pleads guilty to obstructing Orchard Road
Shi Ka Yee was in March 2018 convicted of assaulting a driver who refused to make way for her Ferrari. (Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY)
SINGAPORE: Ferrari driver Shi Ka Yee, who has been in and out of court for various charges including assaulting another driver, pleaded guilty on Monday (Jul 16) to obstructing Orchard Road with her car two years ago.
Shi, 73, had stopped her car between the third and fourth lanes of Orchard Road, just after Claymore Road, on Jun 29, 2016 at about 5.40pm.
She had been driving in front of a private bus, which was carrying about 20 passengers from Scotts Road to Depot Road.
Shi was travelling at a very slow speed, the court heard, causing the 41-year-old bus driver behind her to travel at 5kmh.
He sounded his horn twice to alert Shi. When they came to the T-junction of Claymore Road and Orchard Road, Shi began turning left, with the bus driver following behind.
However, she suddenly came to a complete halt in the middle of Orchard Road, occupying the third and fourth lanes.
The bus driver, Mr Wu Xiaokui, could not complete the turn as his bus was blocked by Shi's Ferrari. His vehicle took up the third, fourth and fifth lanes of the five-lane road.
Both Shi and Mr Wu alighted from their vehicles, and Shi began shouting at him.
Among other things, she told him that he should return to China if he wanted to sound the horn of his bus.
Mr Wu told Shi to move her car to the side of the road, but she refused to.
STILL INSIDE HER CAR WHEN POLICE ARRIVED
Officers in a police patrol car that was going down Orchard Road noticed that there was a traffic jam and drove down to find out what happened.
When they arrived, Shi was sitting inside her car which was still parked across two lanes.
The officers asked Shi to move her car, but she said she did not want the bus to move off because she was calling the police to report Mr Wu's behaviour. She eventually complied and drove off.
Another charge of using insulting words on Mr Wu was taken into consideration in her conviction on Monday.
For stopping her vehicle on the road in a manner to cause obstruction to other road users, Shi could be jailed for up to three months and fined up to S$1,000 for the first offence, with the penalties doubled for subsequent convictions.
Shi faces six more charges, which she intends to plead guilty to. These include drink driving and removing the ignition key from a crane bucket, locking a man inside for more than an hour. She will return for a pre-trial conference later this month.
In March, she was sentenced to a month's jail and banned from driving for six months for assaulting another car driver in Telok Ayer Street in 2014.
