SINGAPORE — Tired after a day’s work, delivery driver Joseph Low Moh Boon was going to stay home for the night but his friend wanted to celebrate his birthday, so they went drinking.

Hours later, two of his friends were dead and Low himself was hospitalised after he crashed his van into a tree.

On Wednesday (Sept 11), Low, 25, pleaded guilty to one charge of causing the deaths of Aaron Prem Michael, 25, and Chioh Hong Heng, 43, by a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide.

Following the accident, which took place in the wee hours of Oct 20 last year, Low’s blood and urine were found to have contained small amounts of ketamine and its main metabolite, norketamine.

However, his lawyer Raj Singh Shergill told the court that his client had not knowingly consumed drugs. “My client has no explanation for why he had drugs in his system… he says he did not take them.”

Low’s blood sample showed he had 78mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood as well, which was slightly below the legal limit of 80mg per 100ml of blood. 

District Judge Ng Peng Hong called for a pre-trial conference to be held on Sept 30.

The court heard that on Oct 19 last year, Low finished his last delivery job and picked up Chioh. He went home to take a shower, while Chioh went to look for Michael, who lived nearby.

After finishing his shower, Low called Chioh to say that he was tired and wanted to stay home, but Chioh insisted that they head out because it was Low’s birthday the next day.

The trio picked up another friend in Ang Mo Kio before going to a pub in Jalan Besar. Four of them shared three jugs of beer.

Low admitted to feeling very tired while drinking.

Afterwards, with Chioh and Michael in his van, he sped along Bukit Timah Road towards the stretch of Upper Bukit Timah Road before Mackenzie Road.

The speed limit was 60 km/h but he was driving at 117km/h to 122 km/h just before the accident at about 3.10am. 

As he approached a junction, Low did not slow down and mounted a kerb on the left, colliding into a tree. The impact dislodged one of the van’s tyres and sent it flying into the front of a taxi.

At about 3.30am, Chioh and Michael were pronounced dead by paramedics. Low was taken unconscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in an ambulance. He was discharged four days later.

Inspectors could not conclude if any mechanical failure to the van contributed to the accident since it had been badly damaged.

‘HE CHOSE TO DRIVE EVEN THOUGH HE WAS TIRED’

Deputy Public Prosecutor Foong Leong Parn sought two years’ jail and a 12-year driving ban for Low on Wednesday. 

She noted that he had a history of speeding, most recently in January last year — 10 months before the accident.

“The accused’s driving (showed) a prolonged and deliberate course of reckless driving, starting from the time when the accused was already feeling tired even before meeting his friends and yet choosing to drive, driving while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and speeding right up to the point of the collision,” she argued.

In mitigation, Mr Shergill said that Low was not “excessively fatigued”, and that his friends had asked him to hurry as they needed to go to the toilet.

For causing death by a rash act, Low could be jailed up to five years, or fined, or both.