Friends who swopped seats in car before police road block jailed

In a bid to evade justice near a road block, two friends who had been drinking beer swopped seats inside a car to obscure the fact that the one driving at the time had no licence to do so.

The unlicensed driver, Estella Sun Weilin, 32, was behind the wheel, with Fong Yoke Mun, 29, in the front passenger seat in the wee hours of Dec 23, 2023, when Sun spotted a police road block ahead.

She then reversed the vehicle and turned into a nearby street before she swopped seats with Fong.

Police officers caught up with the Singaporean women and both were arrested later that day.

On Aug 6, Sun was sentenced to six weeks' jail while Fong was ordered to spend five weeks behind bars.

Each woman was also disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for two years.

Sun and Fong had pleaded guilty in July to one count each of performing an act that could obstruct the course of justice.

Sun also admitted to driving a car without a licence while Fong pleaded guilty to one count of allowing her to do so.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei told the court that before committing the offences, the women had gone to a Circular Road pub before leaving at around 3am on Dec 23, 2023.

After having around two pints of beer each, the pair decided to go to either Chinatown or Outram, and got into Fong's car.

Sun offered to drive the vehicle after Fong complained of a headache. Court documents stated that Fong knew her friend did not have a valid driving licence.

Fong then sat in the front passenger seat while Sun drove the vehicle along Upper Cross Street.

Sun was queueing in a yellow box at a signalised cross-junction when she spotted a police road block about 100m ahead.

She then reversed the car in the middle of the junction and made a right turn into Eu Tong Sen Street.

Two policemen who were stationed at the road block saw her doing so and one of them flashed his torch to signal her to stop.

DPP Tan said: "Sun continued to drive straight ahead. The officers gave chase, which both accused persons noticed. When the car stopped at the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street and North Canal Road due to a red traffic light, Sun and Fong quickly swopped seats.

"They did so as they knew Sun did not possess a valid driving licence, and did not want her to be arrested by the officers."

The officers approached the car and told Fong to pull over for checks.

They also noticed that the women, who reeked of alcohol, had switched seats.

The women admitted what they had done, and they both failed a breathalyser test. They were then taken to the Traffic Police headquarters in Ubi Avenue 3.

At around 6.40am on the same day, Fong was found to have 46 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath while Sun had 19 micrograms of alcohol in the same amount of breath.

The prescribed limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The women were later charged in court in 2025.

Defence lawyer S. S. Dhillon, who represented them, had asked the court to sentence Sun to between five and six weeks' jail.

The lawyer from Dhillon & Panoo law firm said that she had acted out of character that morning, adding: "Estella recognises that she had exercised poor judgment in her impetuous decision to drive without a valid licence... Estella would also like to take this opportunity to apologise on account of her carelessness and oversight."

He pleaded for Fong to be given between three and four weeks' jail, and said: "She assures this honourable court that she will be extra vigilant henceforth and will not run afoul of the law again."