SCDF trainee hurt in motorcycle collision to get 100% in damages
Two defendants accept blame after she suffered traumatic brain injury from motorcycle accident in 2019
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) trainee paramedic who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle collision will get 100 per cent in damages after two defendants accepted total blame in a negligence lawsuit.
The parties averted a three-day High Court hearing last month after agreeing to a consent judgment before Judicial Commissioner Kwek Mean Luck in favour of Ms Nuruljannah Razib, with 70 per cent liability apportioned to motorcyclist Calvin Loo, who was 23 at the time of the accident in 2019, and 30 per cent to second defendant See Toh Yew Mun, then 48.
The damages payable will be assessed at a separate hearing, which will consider the quantum for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and ancillary treatment costs, among other things.
Ms Nuruljannah, now 24, was riding pillion on a motorcycle ridden by Mr Loo, her SCDF colleague, which collided with another motorcycle in Bartley Road East on Feb 11, 2019.
The accident happened at about 10am near the slip road towards Kaki Bukit Avenue 4 in the direction of Tampines Avenue 10.
The duo were on their way to a work-related event when the accident occurred.
The two riders were treated for injuries to their body and limbs.
But Ms Nuruljannah suffered critical skull fractures in addition to injuries to her spine, hands and face.
She was warded for almost a year at Changi General Hospital and now needs full-time care by a live-in trained nurse at her family's Pasir Ris home.
Before she was allowed to return home, the house had to be equipped with features such as ramps, air-conditioners, a hospital bed and lifting machines.
She is unable to speak, is tube-fed and has to be helped daily from the bed to move her limbs in therapy sessions.
The vision in her left eye was affected because of damaged nerves and her left index finger was amputated.
The nursing diploma holder had about six months to go before completion of the SCDF paramedic training when the accident occurred.
Her parents, Mr Mohammad Razib Samsudin and Madam Anisah Salim, both 52, said she loved helping others, and the accident shattered her dreams of becoming a paramedic.
"In the past, she was cheerful and active and always ready to lend a hand to injured people or animals, but now she is able to see only the situation around her from her bed," said Mr Razib.
PART-TIME WORK
Since the accident, Mr Razib and Madam Anisah have switched to part-time work to take turns to tend to their daughter, who is the second of three siblings. She is a teacher and he is the owner of a leather craft studio.
Mr Razib said: "We are hopeful, but we break down from time to time when we think of her condition and the dreams she once pursued and lost."
The couple expressed appreciation for support group Broken Brains, which helps those who have close contact with traumatic brain injury cases.
The couple said they are grateful to the SCDF, adding that the hospital treatment costs were offset by SCDF as part of their daughter's job benefits.
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