So sad.
The results of the appeal is out.
http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20101119-248066.html
No jail for driver who hit cyclist and didn't stop
By Chong Shin Yen
SHE was fined $800 for failing to help a cyclist she had hit.
The prosecution appealed to the High Court, asking for the driver, Cleopatra Wong Yuin Ping, 30, to be given a jail term instead.
But Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin dismissed the appeal.
Wong had earlier said that when she heard the impact, she thought it was a rotten tree branch that had fallen on the car.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong said yesterday that imprisonment "was the norm" for those who had failed to render assistance after an accident.
DPP Ong had argued that her fine for that charge was inadequate and that the District Judge should have given her a jail term.
He pointed out that in previous similar cases, the sentences have been generally a few weeks' imprisonment.
Related:
She thought cyclist was a tree branch
In addition, Wong's claim about how she thought the impact had been caused by a falling tree branch was merely her "bare assertions".
But Justice Chao noted that when the case was heard in the District Court, the prosecutor at that time had not raised any objections to Wong's mitigation plea or challenged her assertions.
Quit teaching
Wong was a teacher at the time of the accident but she has since quit.
She was driving her father's Lexus ES300 when she rammed into a cyclist along Holland Road around 5.15am on Oct 19, 2008.
The impact caused the cyclist, Mr Muhammad Asri Aris, 19, to be flung onto the windscreen before landing on the left side of the road. The windscreen was cracked as a result.
Wong heard a bang and looked in that direction. But thinking that it was a rotten tree branch that had fallen, she did not stop and continued driving home.
She was also unaware that the victim's bicycle was stuck in the undercarriage of the car.
The bicycle was dragged for about 2km, until the junction of Holland Road and Leedon Road, before it was dislodged.
Mr Muhammad Asri was warded for two days with a fractured left shoulder, a cut on his forehead and multiple abrasions.
He was also given medical leave for about a month.
Wong had earlier gone to Zouk to look for her cousin, who had not returned home. Her cousin was staying with her family then.
In her mitigation, Wong said that she heard some sounds at the rear but because the sound-proofing of the Lexus was so good, she thought that the sounds were caused by the tree branch.
In sentencing Wong in August, the District Judge had said it was possible that the shadows from the canopy of trees would have had an impact on Wong's line of sight, resulting in her mistaken assumption about the "object" that struck her windscreen.
Wong had said that she was travelling at 60kmh at the time.