After 12 hours of driving, 39-year-old Mohammad Adzhar Ahmad was feeling tired.
He had begun driving from the day before from 2PM to 9PM before he took an hour-long break. After driving for 3 more hours, he felt sleepy and pulled over at a bus stop along Stevens Road at about 1.25AM, where he had a nap.
Waking up 1 hour later, he continued driving despite feeling tired.
As he was driving along Mandai Road towards Upper Thomson Road, he feel asleep momentarily while passing the last bus stop before Nee Soon Flyover, causing his taxi to cross over the white line and into the path of oncoming traffic.
In doing so, he hit a cyclist, 32-year-old Mr Benjamin Paul Lawrance, who was travelling in the opposite direction, flinging him onto the windscreen of the taxi. Mr Lawrance suffered a massive gash from his abdomen to his right chest. Mr Lawrance died of his severe injuries shortly after.
On Monday, Mr Adzhar was jailed for three months and banned from driving for seven years after admitting to causing the death of Mr Benjamin by a rash act.
Adzhar's lawyer Amarick Gill said his client, a father of three, had last worked as a logistics assistant before he was laid off. He said Adzhar had been driving a taxi for four years without any serious consequences.
"He is very much depressed over the entire incident and pours out his deepest condolences to the family to the late Mr Lawrance Benjamin Paul," he said.
The maximum punishment for the offence is five years' jail and a fine.
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