Man jailed for driving van into woman in row over his failure to stop at crossing
SINGAPORE — Upset at a van driver who had not stopped at the zebra crossing where she was about to cross, a woman followed the driver into a carpark to confront him.
The woman then stood in front of Mazlan Ujod’s van to prevent him from leaving and Mazlan drove his van forward to hit her thrice in the 2019 incident.
As a result, the woman sustained a knee contusion. She was warded for three days and given hospitalisation leave for around two weeks. She was also ordered to be given light duty from 25 April to 3 May 2019 after discharge.
The 46-year-old man was jailed for a month and disqualified from driving for a year after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday (27 October) to a charge of rashly endangering the safety of the woman on 6 April 2019 at a carpark near Block 492 Jurong Street 41.
On that day at night, the woman was about to cross a zebra crossing but noticed Mazlan’s van driving towards the crossing. She stopped by the edge of the road.
Mazlan did not stop at the crossing and drove his van into the carpark. The woman followed Mazlan’s van into the carpark to see if he was drunk.
A while later, the woman confronted Mazlan, who was not drunk. Mazlan claimed that he did not see her as it was dark. The woman called the police at around the same time. She told Mazlan to wait for police officers to arrive.
Mazlan said he was in a rush and boarded the van to leave. The woman stood in front of the van with her hands on his windscreen to prevent him from leaving.
Mazlan then started the engine and inched forwards so that the van came into contact with the woman’s left thigh. The victim moved back, while the van moved forward and came into contact with her again.When the van hit her twice, the woman shouted at Mazlan to tell him that he was hitting her.
Mazlan still drove forward, hitting the victim’s hip and thigh before driving off. The police arrived after Mazlan had left.
The woman was conveyed to hospital. As the pain in her left leg did not subside, she returned on 8 April 2019 and was warded until 10 April 2019.
She was diagnosed with a left knee contusion, according to a medical report. She was given hospitalisation leave from 7 to 24 April and given a period of light duty afterwards.
The prosecution noted the number of times Mazlan had hit the victim and sought five to six weeks’ jail.
Seeking a week's jail, Mazlan’s lawyer, Yamuna Balakrishnan, said that her client was a sole breadwinner of a family with three young children. At the start of the court hearing, the man said through an interpreter that the incident would not have occurred had the woman not followed him into the carpark. He also said he had not heard the woman shout at him as his windows were closed.
Submitting for a disqualification of a year, the lawyer said that Mazlan worked in an inventory-related business and needed his van to earn an income.
In reply, Deputy Public Prosecutor Samyata Ravindran said that Mazlan was trying to shift the blame to the victim, which displayed a lack of remorse.
“Of course, she had her reason for going to him to speak to him…all she wanted to do was to have a conversation (and) it escalated into this incident,” the DPP said.
Asked by District Judge Ronald Gwee if the prosecution was seeking a compensation order, DPP Ravindran said no, as the victim might be commencing a civil suit against Mazlan.
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