Fatal crash: Jail for man who parked lorry on PIE

A trucker who parked his lorry in the middle of the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) while he took a nap was jailed yesterday for nine months over an accident that left a van driver dead.

Anderson Rozario Esep M, 24, had drunk alcohol in a coffee shop in Jalan Bukit Merah before sleeping in his lorry in an open-air carpark nearby.

After waking up at around 5am, he set off for home.

But he still felt tired, and he stopped the lorry on the PIE towards Changi Airport, in the second lane from the right.

He reversed a short distance, killed the engine, turned off all the lights and then fell asleep, a court heard.

Spotting the danger, a truck driver stopped on the road shoulder nearby. He noticed that the side windows of the lorry were partially wound down.

After calling out to Rozario but failing to wake him up, the truck driver stood on the road shoulder and waved a torchlight to warn oncoming vehicles.

However, around 6.15am, Mr Chin Kin Siong's van crashed into the rear of the parked lorry after he swerved to the left but failed to avoid the lorry.

Mr Chin, 52, suffered injuries, including fractures and a crushed leg, and he died a few hours later in hospital.

Rozario was also banned from driving for 10 years. A prohibition order - to prevent him from driving in Singapore using a foreign licence - was imposed for the same period.

The Malaysian pleaded guilty on June 30 to causing death by a rash act on July 30 last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Soo Tet said Rozario had made a "deliberate choice" to park on the expressway and then go to sleep. Mr Tan said: "This amply demonstrates the accused's callousness and utter disregard for the danger which his actions had obviously occasioned for other road users."

Pleading for leniency, Rozario said he has two younger siblings to support, and he was remorseful.

For rashly causing Mr Chin's death, he could have been jailed for up to five years and fined.

This article was first published on July 11, 2014.
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