After a six-year legal battle, Sam Ke Ting has been cleared of a reckless driving charge connected to the tragic incident in Johor in which eight teenage cyclists lost their lives in February 2017.
Malaysiakini reported that the Court of Appeal, presided over by a panel of three judges led by Hadhariah Syed Ismail, ruled unanimously in favor of Sam, allowing her appeal to overturn her previous guilty verdict, along with a jail sentence of six years and a fine of RM6,000 (US$1,358.85). The other judges on the bench were Hashim Hamzah and Azman Abdullah.
The 2017 incident occurred at 3am, resulting in eight fatalities, two critically injured, and six with minor injuries.
Hadhariah, who delivered the ruling, stated that the charge against Sam cannot be upheld due to a flawed charge that included two separate traffic offenses, namely reckless driving and dangerous driving.
She pointed out that even the prosecution team acknowledged the presence of this flaw during an open-court hearing earlier in the day.
Hadhariah further explained that Sam’s charge violated Section 163 of the Criminal Procedure Code as it contained two distinct offenses, which undermined the elements of the charge, rather than being a minor defect.
“The appellant must know the case against her.
“We find that there has been confusion at the prosecution stage of trial on whether it was driving recklessly or driving dangerously,” she said, noting that Sam was called to enter her defence for both offences contained in a single charge.
Hadhariah highlighted that the Magistrate Court in Johor Bahru had acquitted Sam twice, once at the end of prosecution and again at the end of the defense, and the High Court in Johor Bahru had overturned both decisions.
She acknowledged that the Magistrate Court had accurately concluded that the accident was unavoidable for the motorist.
Hadhariah referred to the testimony of the investigating officer, which indicated that the group of teen cyclists, numbering between 30 to 40, were engaged in an illegal race and were not permitted to be on the road during the early hours.
The trial magistrate had even commented that Sam’s car would have had to be “flying” to avoid the multitude of cyclists on the road, emphasizing that this was not a jest, but a serious explanation of the only conceivable method by which the appellant could have evaded colliding with them.
“We sympathise with the families of the eight victims who died in the accident, but the decision must be made in accordance with the law, especially following the principles of case law.
“If an accident happens and a person is killed, we cannot just say the motorist is liable. The guilty verdict can only follow the finding of fault against the driver, whether the driver was driving in a dangerous manner.
“That is the law,” Hadhariah said.
She then ruled that the appeal must be allowed on the reason of the defective charge alone.
“The appellant is acquitted and discharged. You are now a free person,” Hadhariah told Sam, 28, who was in the dock, clad in a black blouse and cream pants.
Sam was represented by a legal team led by lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.
The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors Tengku Amir Tengku Abdul Rahman and Muhamad Shafiq Mohd Ghazali.
Following the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn her conviction for reckless driving earlier today, the 28-year-old spoke to the media and expressed her remorse for the tragic incident.
She acknowledged that what she says now may not be sufficient to console the grieving families.
Sam went on to read out the names of the eight deceased teenage boys as a gesture of sympathy towards their families.
Those who were killed in the incident were Mohamad Azrie Danish Zulkefli, 14; Muhamad Shahrul Izzwan Azzuraimie, 14; Muhammad Firdauz Danish Mohd Azhar, 16; Fauzan Halmijan, 13; Mohamad Azhar Amir, 16; Muhammad Harith Iskandar Abdullah, 14; Muhammad Shahrul Nizam Marudin, 14; and Haizad Kasrin, 16.
She said she was constantly troubled by the matter since the incident on Feb. 8, 2017 until now.
“I will forever carry the pain of the tragedy in every fiber of my being. I am haunted by the tragedy of that night.
“I believe I will bring this feeling even to the grave,” Sam told the media.
