Former district judge fined $2,700 and disqualified from driving for seven months over traffic offences
SINGAPORE – A former district judge has been fined $2,700 and disqualified from driving for seven months over traffic offences he committed in 2019.
Wong Keen Onn, 63, pleaded guilty on Friday (April 16) to one count of reckless driving and one count of breaching a traffic signal.
He was represented by lawyer Tan Hee Joek.
Both offences were committed on Aug 9, about a month before he retired, as Wong was driving along the East Coast Parkway (ECP) towards the Ayer Rajah Expressway, near the start of the Benjamin Sheares Bridge.
Court documents state that Wong and another driver, whose car was in front of Wong’s vehicle, began switching to a lane on the left at the same time.
While the other car was partly in the next lane, Wong accelerated and drove around the car’s left side to overtake it.
This caused the rear right side of Wong’s car to collide with the front left side of the other car.
The other driver then attempted to get his attention, including by sounding the car horn and flashing the car’s headlights at him.
But Wong continued driving and eventually made two right turns into Bayfront Avenue, with the other vehicle following his car.
He later stopped his car at the junction of Bayfront Avenue and Raffles Avenue, where the traffic light signal had turned red.
Seeing an opportunity to speak to Wong about the collision, the other driver alighted from his vehicle and walked towards Wong’s car from the rear.
Before the man could reach him, Wong turned left into Raffles Avenue even though the traffic light signal was still red. He then drove away.
The court heard that there were no issues with road and weather conditions at that time.
A previous report by The Straits Times state that Wong had served as a district judge in the then Subordinate Courts, among other things.
Cases that he presided over include the conviction of several individuals involved in the multimillion-dollar Accord Customer Care Solutions corporate scandal and of a Singaporean who participated in a conspiracy to ship 20,000 rifles to Syria.
A Family Justice Courts (FJC) spokesman told ST in January this year that Wong was a district judge of the FJC before he retired in September 2019.
For driving recklessly, Wong could have been jailed for up to 12 months, or fined up to $5,000, or both.
He could also have been jailed for up to three months, or fined up to $1,000, or both, for failing to conform to the traffic signal.
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