Man pleads guilty to driving at speeds of up to 221kmh during group joyride
The prosecutor said the most egregious instance of speeding was when Jared-Kane Goh entered a lane at 89kmh to 109kmh in a 50kmh zone.
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SINGAPORE: A man admitted on Tuesday (Sep 8) to driving at speeds of up to 221kmh while on a joyride in town with the drivers of five other vehicles.
Jared-Kane Goh, a 26-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving by speeds almost double the legal limits on three stretches of road.
The high-speed joyride resulted in two collisions when Goh braked to avoid hitting another vehicle, causing the car behind him to rear-end his.
Debris from the first collision flew across the lane causing another driver to apply his brakes, resulting in another rear-end collision.
THE CASE
The court heard that Goh had driven a blue Mitsubishi Evo to join five other cars on a joyride that was headed towards the downtown area in the wee hours of Oct 27, 2024.
The other vehicles were allegedly driven by co-accused Marcus Lau Yong Wei, 35, Damien Chia Hwa Chuan, 29, Gilviz Lee Jun En, 23, Sherman Quah Kok Rong, 21, and Kong Jia Quan, 23.
The court heard that the joyride began at Stadium Boulevard and continued via the Pan Island Expressway and Central Expressway (CTE) before heading to Orchard Road. It culminated in the cars trailing each other at high speed.
Closed-circuit television footage captured Goh's car at high speed along Stamford Road towards Fort Canning Link on the second lane of a four-lane road.
He was allegedly followed closely by Kong and Lee.
Goh approached another vehicle that was making a right turn into Queen Street from Stamford Road and braked to avoid a collision.
The abrupt stop allegedly caused Kong's car to rear-end Goh's car. Lee swerved sharply to the right to avoid another collision, mounting the grass verge before his vehicle overturned.
Debris from the collision flew across the road and Lau braked, causing the vehicle behind to rear-end his car.
Goh sought medical treatment for ailments including an acute neck sprain, a headache and an acute stress reaction.
He was discharged with medical leave but later returned as he still suffered pain.
Goh was found to have driven at speeds of up to 221kmh along the CTE, where the limit was 90kmh. At the upper end of the prosecution's stated speed range, he would have been driving at more than double the limit.
In total, he sped across seven locations from the CTE to Stamford Road, said Assistant Public Prosecutor Chye Jer Yuan.
The most egregious was at Stamford Road and Victoria Street, where Goh entered the lane at 89kmh to 109kmh in a 50kmh zone, he said.
Mr Chye sought three-and-a-half to five months' jail for Goh, along with three to four years' disqualification from driving.
He said the dangerous and reckless driving was sustained rather than momentary with a prolonged course of dangerous and reckless conduct.
He said Goh demonstrated a "wholesale disregard for traffic rules", driving at speeds approaching or double the speed limits.
The potential for serious harm to other road users was very high, given the speeds involved, and his driving injured himself and his front passenger, a 22-year-old woman.
Defence lawyer Foo Cheow Ming asked for the case to be adjourned, explaining with an apology that he had prepared the mitigation in response to an earlier version of the statement of facts.
He described it as a "fiasco" that was "entirely my fault".
Goh entered the court building in a yellow top, changed to a white top in the dock and changed again to a black top when he left the building.
Among the co-accused, all but Kong have already been sentenced, receiving jail terms of a few months each, with driving bans of three years. Kong's case is pending.
Goh will return on Sep 14 for mitigation and sentencing.
For dangerous driving, he could be jailed for up to 12 months, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
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