Repeat driving offender jailed 14 weeks, banned 20 years

Alvin Phua Lai Soon, 32, had no respect for the law or human life.

Banned from driving for various offences, he continued to ignore court orders and drove while disqualified from driving.

The second time he defied the driving ban, three innocent people were sent to hospital with various injuries including a brain haemorrhage, ruptured spleen, broken ribs and a fractured spine.

In 2012, Phua was fined $2,600 and banned from driving for six years for driving without a licence.

Alvin Phua Lai Soon was serving a driving ban when he drove while drunk and hit a Nissan sedan. PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE

He was later caught driving and was jailed five weeks in May 2014. He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years.

But while still serving that ban, he drove again on March 28 last year with horrific consequences.

Driving while drunk, he beat a red light at the junction of Changi Road and Frankel Road and slammed his father's Volvo into a Nissan sedan.

Phua, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded guilty to one count each of causing grievous hurt while performing a negligent act, drink driving, driving while under disqualification and driving a car without its owner's consent.

The Nissan driver, Madam Poh Hock Choo, was trapped under her car. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

One count of causing hurt by performing a negligent act was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Phua, who is self-employed, was jailed 14 weeks yesterday and disqualified from driving for 20 years.

The court heard that at around midnight that day, Phua met Ms Vu Thi Phuong Lan, 51, and her friend, Ms Ngo Thi Thuy Dung, at a Clarke Quay pub.

After a drinking session, the trio took a taxi to his home at Block 157, Bedok South Avenue 3, at around 4.40am. He took his father's car keys without permission because he knew his father would not have allowed him to drive because of his driving ban.

Phua then drove the car, with the two women inside, to Geylang for supper. He was driving along Changi Road when he beat a red light at the junction of Frankel Road.

He hit Madam Poh Hock Choo's car, which was coming from his right, as she was driving along Jalan Kembangan towards Frankel Avenue.

The collision left Madam Poh, 49, trapped under her car and her husband, Mr Kor Leong Chai, 53, who was in the front passenger seat, ended up hanging out of a broken window.

The police were notified at around 5.20am and an officer who arrived at the scene found Phua reeking of alcohol.

He had 56 microgrammes of alcohol in every 100ml of his breath, above the legal limit of 35 microgrammes.

Ms Vu, who sat in the rear passenger seat of the Volvo, suffered fractures to her spine and ribs, a bruised left lung and a nearly shattered spleen.

Mr Kor had bleeding in his brain and fractures to his spine, left shoulder and right knee.

Madam Poh had broken ribs and a cut on her liver.

Phua pleaded for leniency in court. He told District Judge Salina Ishak that he was his family's sole breadwinner and has a two-year-old son.

For causing grievous hurt by performing a negligent act, he could have been jailed up to two years and fined up to $5,000.