Woman involved in ‘basikal lajak’ case sentenced to 6 years in prison and fined RM6,000

The Johor Bahru High Court has sentenced the woman involved in a 2017 road accident that resulted in the deaths of 8 teenagers on modified bicycles, commonly known as “basikal lajak”, to 6 years’ imprisonment.

The woman, Sam Ke Ting, 27, was charged under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333) for causing death by reckless driving more than 5 years ago when she rammed into a group of teens riding modified bicycles (‘basikal lajak’).

In addition, the court also disqualified her from driving for 3 years, effective immediately after she completes her prison sentence. She was also ordered to serve another 6 months in prison if she failed to pay the fine, according to a report by FMT.

This came after the prosecution was successful in its second appeal against a Magistrate’s Court decision to acquit and discharge Sam in October last year on a charge of reckless or dangerous driving, resulting in the death of eight cyclists.

In her judgement on 10 October, Magistrate Siti Hajar took into account the reasonable testimony of the accused, who told the court that she had no knowledge of the riding activities on modified bicycles in the area.

The court also learnt that Sam, who was 22 at the time of the incident, was driving on the far left lane at the accident scene on Jalan Lingkaran Dalam at 3.30 am on 18 February 2017.

The accused’s testimony matched with a study conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS), which also found that the accused was driving at 44.5km/h or 75.8km/h and it is well within the speed limit.

However, Judge Abu Bakar said the prosecution has succeeded in proving a prima facie case against Sam and that the trial court was found to have erred in reconsidering the issue.

Sam’s lawyer asked for a stay of execution since they would be appealing the decision at the Court of Appeal, but was rejected by Abu Bakar and the judge instructed Sam to begin her sentence today.

Sam was first acquitted by the Johor Bahru Magistrate’s Court on 28 October 2019.

The eight victims were Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14; Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Azhar Amir, 16; and Haizad Kasrin, 16.