Woman charged with reckless driving, drug possession after injuring two in KL Marathon hit-and-run

AMPANG, Oct 4 — A woman who drove her car into three marathon runners during the Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon 2019 has pleaded not guilty to a charge of reckless and dangerous driving.

Cham Shan Jer, 25, claimed trial to the charge under Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act at the Magistrates Court today.

According to the chargesheet, Cham committed the offence at the Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road (MRR2) heading towards Gombak, Selangor around 6am on September 29.

Cham was accused of driving her vehicle recklessly on a public road and hitting marathon runners Lee Wei Jack and Faizul Shahrul Mohd Salleh.

The offence under Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail and a RM15,000 fine.

Upon conviction, Cham could also be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of not less than two years or have it revoked.

Cham was also charged with drug possession under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

According to the chargesheet, she is accused of possessing 13.5 grams of methamphetamine while under police custody at Pandan Indah police station, around 4.30am on September 30.

Upon conviction under Section 12(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act and punishable under Section 39A(1) of the same Act, carries a jail term between two to five years and three to nine stroke of the cane.

After both the charges were read in Mandarin by a court interpreter, Cham nodded and then pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Deputy public prosecutor Nur Intan Syakierah Zakaria earlier requested the court to fix bail at RM18,000 for both charges.

Lawyer TL Chen, who represented the accused, asked the court to impose a bail of RM8,000 for both offences as his client is a single mother who has to support a two-year-old child and her parents with no fixed income.

Magistrate Mohamad Firdaus Sadina Ali then set bail at RM14,000 — RM8,000 for the traffic offence and RM6,000 the drug offence — with one surety.

The court also fixed November 18 for mention.