SINGAPORE, Aug 30 — A construction worker who caused the death of a senior law professor was sentenced to two years and a month in jail and fined S$2,000.
Natarajan Mohanraj, 28, also received a lifetime driving ban in Singapore after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including causing death by driving without due care, The Straits Times reported today.
The fatal accident occurred on July 7, 2023, when Natarajan looked at his mobile phone while driving a lorry along Upper Thomson Road.
His vehicle mounted the centre divider, smashed through metal railings, uprooted two trees, and collided with the car of 70-year-old Emeritus Professor Tan Yock Lin, a senior National University of Singapore law lecturer.
Tan was reported to have suffered skull fractures and was trapped inside his car, eventually dying of multiple injuries at Tan Tock Seng Hospital later that day.
According to media reports, Natarajan continued to drive another lorry on two occasions in 2024 after he was ordered by Traffic Police in June 2023 to surrender his driving licence before July 25.
According to The Straits Times, he drove with the owner’s permission the first time on January 3, 2024, but was stopped by police for not wearing a seatbelt, and again in May 2024 without permission before being stopped once more.
Defence lawyer Sarbrinder Singh argued that Natarajan was remorseful, had lost his job, and that the crash resulted from a momentary lapse rather than prolonged careless driving, but the court ruled otherwise.
