Man, 29, died after being hit by car; family questions why driver left scene with deceased's phone

SINGAPORE: A 29-year-old man died after being hit by a car in the rain in Choa Chu Kang, with the driver claiming that he had dashed out.

However, the family of the late Seow Han Yen, Sean, raised multiple questions about the incident and the behaviour of the 23-year-old driver, who allegedly left the scene and took Mr Seow's phone with her.

The inquiry into Mr Seow's death opened on Monday (Nov 11), with the family turning up to hear the facts of the case, along with their lawyers, Mr Raj Singh Shergill and Ms Desiree Koh.

The senior investigating officer on the case took the stand and shared findings from his report.

At about 7am on Mar 3 this year, 23-year-old Singaporean Ilycia Chua Yue-Lin was ferrying her boyfriend and his brother in her car.

After passing the junction of Choa Chu Kang Loop and Choa Chu Kang Drive towards Teck Whye Avenue, her vehicle collided with Mr Seow, who is believed to have crossed the road from her right.

An off-duty police officer who happened to come up behind Ms Chua's car saw the aftermath but not the collision.

He saw Ms Chua's car stationary on the two-lane road with its hazard lights on, and alighted to help.

He spotted Mr Seow lying on the right side of the second lane and saw Ms Chua with two men standing around Mr Seow.

He asked if anyone had called for an ambulance. When told that no one had, he called for one and instructed the trio not to touch Mr Seow.

The off-duty cop then returned to check on Mr Seow, but there was no response from him although he was still breathing.

The officer then called 999 to report the accident and waited for the paramedics to arrive before leaving.

ACCOUNT OF THE DRIVER

According to Ms Chua, she had driven past midnight to ferry her boyfriend's brother home and used the Waze application to help her on her route.

She claimed that the traffic light was green in her favour at the time of the accident and that no other vehicles were around her.

Her boyfriend backed up her account that the lights were green in her favour, while her boyfriend's brother said he did not witness the accident as he was playing with his phone.

Ms Chua said she saw Mr Seow crossing at the pedestrian crossing, but stopped in between lanes.

She claimed that she had continued straight when Mr Seow suddenly dashed across the road. She could not brake in time and collided with him.

After this, she stopped her car and alighted to check on Mr Seow, following which the off-duty police officer came to help.

An ambulance arrived and took Mr Seow to the hospital.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, Ms Chua decided to leave. She said she drove to her home in Choa Chu Kang and parked at the multi-storey carpark before going to town to run some errands.

Later that same day at 10am, her brother called her to say that the traffic police were at their home looking for her, and she went to meet them.

The investigation officer had mentioned in his report that Ms Chua's boyfriend had taken Mr Seow's valuables and placed them in Ms Chua's vehicle for safekeeping, and that Ms Chua had gone home as she was unsure of what to do.

The police later found her vehicle and Mr Seow's valuables, including his phone, at a multi-storey car park in Choa Chu Kang.

Mr Seow died from injuries consistent with a road traffic accident a few days after the accident.

His sister said he had been staying with their mother at Woodlands Circle and working as an engineer for two years.

He would usually leave for work at 6am and take a public bus. On the day of the incident, it was a Sunday, and he left home to head to SAFRA Choa Chu Kang for gym sessions.

She said he was alone when the accident occurred, and that he was a nice person who did not have any dispute with anyone and no suicidal tendencies.

The police concluded that there was no evidence to suggest foul play in this case.

There was no dashboard camera footage that depicted the accident, either from Ms Chua's vehicle or the off-duty cop's.

The police retrieved footage from the nearby Choa Chu Kang bus interchange which shows part of the incident from a distance, but it was blurry and the rain further obfuscated the view.

Ms Chua's vehicle sustained a cracked windscreen and a bumper dent from the accident, but was assessed to be in otherwise working condition at the time. There were also no malfunctions reported in the traffic lights at the location.

QUESTIONS FROM FAMILY LAWYER

Mr Shergill asked the investigation officer multiple questions on behalf of Mr Seow's family, taking into account the coroner's reminder that such inquiries are a fact-finding exercise and not intended to establish liability.

He showed a Google Timeline from Mr Seow's phone, which showed that the device was at the bus interchange that morning before he was shown walking at around the time of the collision.

From 6.58am to 7.34am, the phone was again shown to be at the bus interchange.

Mr Shergill asked the officer if Ms Chua had remained at the scene or did she take Mr Seow's belongings, including his phone, to the bus interchange for about half an hour.

The investigating officer said he could not ascertain that fact.

He also said that the paramedics' arrival time at the scene was "not stated".

Mr Shergill asked if Ms Chua had been drinking the night before.

The officer said she did not reek of alcohol when the police detained her at the carpark at 12.37pm that day at block 287A, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2.

Mr Shergill pointed out that this was more than five hours after the accident, but noted that the investigation officer was the third one to come onto the case.

On further questioning, the officer said Ms Chua's phone had not been checked to ascertain if she had been using it just before the collision.

Nor were her credit card bills or other online trackers checked to see if she had purchased alcohol before the accident.

However, the investigating officer noted that the off-duty cop had been asked on the phone if Ms Chua had smelt of alcohol.

He said she did not, and that her gait was steady, her speech was not slurred and her face was not flushed.

Footage from someone living in a condominium near the accident location suggested that Mr Seow was flung three to four car lengths away from the crossing, said Mr Shergill.

The investigation officer said he was not able to establish this distance, but pointed to the video the lawyer showed in court and said it was about two car lengths.

He explained that the vehicle was no longer there by the time the police arrived, and there was no evidence of blood on the road as it was raining heavily.

He also said it did not seem, from the limited footage obtained, that Ms Chua was driving very fast.

The said video was played in court a few times. Mr Shergill then asked if it showed another person crossing the road in the opposite direction of Mr Seow at the time. 

The investigation officer said he could see a black figure going in the opposite direction of where Mr Seow was, but he could not confirm if it was a person or "something else".

Mr Shergill then quizzed the officer about the traffic light sequence at the time, and if it was possible that the lights had been red for the driver instead.

The investigation officer said it should have been a certain sequence where the lights were green for Ms Chua. However, he acknowledged that it could also be another sequence, where the light was red for Ms Chua and green for Mr Seow.

Mr Shergill also asked if it had been established why Ms Chua drove to Block 271, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2, after the accident when her car was eventually found at Block 287A.

The officer said "we're not sure why she was there at 271", but that her car was found at Block 287A.

He said Ms Chua was not aware that she had to stay at the scene. The two men with her were "surprised and shocked" and were also not aware of the requirement to remain there.

"She says she drove her car home and left home to run errands. And did you check with her what errands she would have to run at seven something in the morning, after staying out the whole night?" asked Mr Shergill.

"They went to Far East to do a site survey," answered the investigation officer, adding that he could not confirm if this was work-related.

He said an officer went to Ms Chua's house at 10.15am but found only her brother, who tried to call her but did not get an answer.

Eventually, Ms Chua called the police back at about 11am and met the police at her car only at about 12.35pm.

The coroner asked for some of the footage used by Mr Shergill to be made available to court and gave some other administrative instructions before adjourning the case.

He also asked the investigation officer to check on details of Ms Chua's driving experience, as requested by Mr Seow's family.

The coroner will deliver findings at a later date.

Ms Chua has yet to be charged.