Lorry driver in fatal accident at Yio Chu Kang MRT Station given discharge not amounting to acquittal

SINGAPORE — A lorry driver who was involved in a fatal accident at Yio Chu Kang MRT Station in April 2018 was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the charge of causing the death of the three pedestrians on Thursday (3 October).

A discharge not amounting to an acquittal means that the case has been dropped temporarily and may be revived later. It was given pending a coroner’s report on the incident.

Xu Kai Xiang, 27, also faces two fresh charges – with one count of driving the lorry without a Class 3 driving license and another count of driving without insurance. These charges are breaches under the Road Traffic Act.

Both offences are said to have taken place on the same day of the fatal incident on 23 April 2018. Xu indicated that he intends to plead guilty to the charges, and his court hearing has been fixed for 14 October.

Death of three pedestrians

Xu was accused of causing the death of three pedestrians: Gina Chua Aye Wah, 58, her father Chua Cheng Thong, 86, and Yap Soon Huat, 63.

His original charge states that at about 9.37am on 23 April 2018, he was driving along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 towards Marymount Road when he failed to have proper control of his lorry along the three-lane road. His lorry then mounted the left kerb, collided into the railings, surged forward and collided into the three pedestrians.

It then ran into an SBS bus that was stationary at the entrance of Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange, before crashing into bollards and coming to a halt.

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Lorry driver charged for causing accident at Yio Chu Kang that killed 3 pedestrians