Repeat drunk driver banned for life after multiple excuses

SINGAPORE — He claimed to have drunk a small glass of beer before a traffic accident, then consumed only four or five cans at home after leaving the scene.

Song Chee Kiong, 52, later changed his story, saying he drank 10 cans of beer at home.

But for all his claims, the court still convicted him of drink driving and careless driving.

He was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail, got a $19,000 fine, and was banned from driving for life.

Song appealed against his conviction and sentence, but the High Court dismissed his appeals on Oct 4.

This was his third drink-driving conviction.

Song was driving along Bukit Batok Road on Oct 8, 2020, when he hit a car in front at about 8.40pm.

He exchanged particulars with the other driver, and they agreed to claim damages from their respective insurance policies.

But after Song left the scene, the other driver called for a tow truck and made a police report, saying he smelled alcohol on Song.

The Traffic Police conducted a breathalyser test on him about 5.5 hours later.

He claimed he drank only a small glass of beer at the Bukit Batok Home Team golf range before the accident, then went home and drank about five cans of beer.

The breathalyser found his breath alcohol content was 84 microgrammes per 100ml of breath.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes per 100ml of breath.

An expert from the Health Sciences Authority found that even if he drank five cans of beer after the accident, he would still have been intoxicated at the time of the accident.

The expert said, at the very least, Song's breath alcohol content would have been 61 microgrammes per 100ml of breath at the time of the accident.

When he was asked to report for bail on Oct 30, 2020, Song changed his story, claiming he actually drank more than 10 cans of beer after getting home.

The expert said even if he had drunk 10 cans of beer after the accident, his breath alcohol content would still have been at least 39 microgrammes per 100ml of breath at the time of the collision.

The court was also told the Traffic Police found only four empty cans on his table after the accident.

Drunken drivers claiming to have drunk alcohol after an accident to evade prosecution is not a new tactic.

Recently, a 60-year-old man in South Korea avoided drink-driving charges by downing a bottle of alcohol after he was pulled over.

The Daegu court said it was unable to confirm he was drunk while driving, as the evidence was circumstantial.

But in Song's case, the District Judge shifted the burden of proof to Song, to show that his breath alcohol concentration would not have exceeded the prescribed limit if he had not drunk alcohol after the accident.

Song was unable to do this, and the District Judge rejected his claim that he drank more than 10 cans of beer after the accident.

During his appeal on Oct 4, Song repeated that assertion, and claimed he was blind in his right eye.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li said if this was true, then he should not have been driving in the first place.

Song then told the court he saw a lot of mist in front of him before the accident.

Justice Hoo Sheau Peng dismissed Song's appeals.

For repeatedly drink driving, Song could have been jailed for up to six years and fined up to $60,000.

There were 180 drink-driving accidents in 2023, up from 175 in 2022. The number of fatal drink-driving accidents also rose to 11, from 10 in 2022.

There were nine fatal accidents caused by drink driving in the first half of 2024, up from eight in the same period in 2023.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.