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SINGAPORE – A 64-year-old man was charged on Wednesday (September 2) in the Lucky Plaza accident that killed two domestic workers in December last year.
Malaysian Chong Kim Hoe, whose car allegedly struck six Filipino women, now faces three charges of dangerous driving.
Two of them were killed, three were seriously injured and a sixth woman was injured in the incident.
The Singapore permanent resident is said to have hit the throttle while making a U-turn while driving down Nutmeg Road behind Orchard Road Mall at around 5 p.m. on December 29 last year.
He allegedly drove onto a nearby sidewalk, through a railing and onto a Lucky Plaza service road, colliding with the six women.
Two of them, Ms. Abigail Danao Leste, 41, and Ms. Arlyn Picar Nucos, 50, died.
Ms. Arceli Picar Nucos, 56, as well as Ms. Egnal Layugan Limbauan and Ms. Laila Flores Laudencia, both 44, suffered serious injuries. Ms. Demet Limbauan Limbauan, 37, was also injured.
Details about the women’s injuries were not disclosed in court documents. Ms. Arlyn Picar Nucos was the sister of Ms. Arceli Picar Nucos.
The manager of a Lucky Plaza travel agency, Daniel Mendoza, 34, had previously told The Straits Times that he was on a sidewalk near the mall when the accident occurred.
He added: “Of course everyone was shocked and many were shouting ‘help, God, help, God.’
A video, which appears to be a recording of the accident taken with closed-circuit television cameras, was also circulating online.
It shows a car making a U-turn before accelerating through the adjacent lane and into a group of people on the sidewalk.
After the collapse, more than $ 360,000 was raised in an online fundraiser that closed on January 6 of this year.
The Center for Domestic Employees (CDE), together with the Domestic Employees Welfare Fund, raised the sum of nearly 3,000 donors in about a week, according to figures from the fundraising website Giving.sg.
All proceeds from the fundraising campaign, which began on December 30 last year, would go directly to helping the four injured maids and the dependents of the two dead women.
In a Facebook post in January this year, CDE President Yeo Guat Kwang thanked members of the public for their generosity, adding: “The CDE, employers, victims and their families have been overwhelmed by their strong and kind support … Your support has given us the flexibility we need to provide urgent financial support to the dependents of the two deceased and the two workers still hospitalized.
Chong’s bail was set at $ 15,000 on Wednesday and his pre-trial conference will be held on September 25. For each count, an offender convicted of causing a death by dangerous driving can be jailed for up to eight years.
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