By Elena Chong

A SENIOR journalist accused of maiming a motorcyclist and killing his pillion refuted claims on Wednesday that she barrelled through a red light seconds before the crash.

Lim Hong Eng, an executive editor with Shin Min Daily News, also said she was not talking on her handphone when she rammed the motorcycle on a drizzly Christmas Eve two years ago.

With her voice breaking, the 55-year-old Lim said in Mandarin from the witness stand: 'I was not speeding. I did not use the phone. I did not drink alcohol. I was not in a rush to go anywhere. So I didn't feel that I was driving dangerously.''

Lim is accused of killing the pillion rider by dangerous driving, and grievously hurting the rider.

The pair was picking up festive goodies when they were hit and thrown off the bike.

The pillion, Indonesian maid Ms Melania Melaniawati, 24, died two days later. The rider Mr David Jermais Pattiselanno, 70, suffered a compound fracture in his leg and still needs crutches to walk.

Witnesses testified earlier this week that Lim was talking on her cellphone when her Toyota Wish sports utility vehicle hit the bike. They also said she was trying to beat a red light at the junction of Whitley and Dunearn roads.

Lim told District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim on Wednesday that she heading to the Raffles Town Club but was not in a rush when she reached the junction.

On nearing the next traffic light junction, she said something hit her car. She thought a traffic light had fallen on her vehicle.

'I wanted to stop immediately. When I was about to stop, I saw something falling on my windscreen.'

'I do not know what it was because it was very fast. Then it rolled down,' she said.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.