SINGAPORE— 39-year-old Maserati driver Lee Cheng Yan, who dragged a police officer with his car for 124m in 2017, pleaded to the court to have the vehicle returned.
This was told by Lee’s sister to the court today (25 January), according to CNA.
Today’s court hearing was for the forfeiture of the Maserati which was used in the 2017 offence.
On 17 November 2017, Lee drove his Maserati along Bedok Reservoir Road. He was stopped by police officer, Staff Sgt Khairulanwar who saw Lee driving without his seat belt.
But Lee was banned from driving at the time, he refused to obey the police’s order and fled the scene instead. Khairulanwar was caught in the driver’s door by his uniform and was dragged for 124m at a speed of 79kmh to 84kmh.
When the officer fell onto the road, Lee sped off without rendering help. Khairulanwar injured his right knee, neck, and lower back and was later medically downgraded by the Home Team Medical Board.
Lee is currently serving a total sentence of about six years and eight months.
Lee wish to have his maserati returned to repay his parent
Lee’s sister told the court that she and her family do not condone her brother’s wrongdoing.
“In fact, as family members, our lives have been the most badly affected by his irresponsible actions,” she added that their family has been paying for Lee’s hefty legal fees and financially supporting his four-year-old twin daughters in Japan.
Lee took large loans from his parents to pay legal fees for his trials.
“That was with the understanding that he wishes to pay them the moment the car is released. In other words, what he did is pledge the car to repay the loans he had taken from his parents,” Lee’s sister said.
Their mother even had to pawn her jewelry to loan Lee for the legal matter, while they have been providing for Lee’s children all this while.
In addition, the family has a 42-year-old brother who is intellectually disabled and is unable to care for himself.
Lee’s sister further explained that Lee pledged the proceeds of the vehicle for the loan from his parents.
Judge denied Lee’s appeal to reduce sentence
Lee appeared in court today but did not want to address the court directly. He had earlier told the court last week that he wanted his Maserati to be returned so he could sell it and use the proceeds to provide for his two daughters in Japan.
Lee also apologized for his action and asked the court to reduce his sentence, in the hope to ” reunite with his two daughters earlier”.
He said he did not realise the consequences of his actions while he was “having my freedom outside”.
Lee’s appeal was dismissed by Justice Aedit Abdullah, who chided Lee: “You don’t seem to understand the seriousness of what you have done.”
The judge added that Lee should be spending his time in prison to reflect, and not to reduce his sentence.
Lee was sentenced in July 2020 to a jail term of four years and seven months, along with a fine of S$3,700 on 10 charges, including voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a Traffic Police officer.
Lee was also banned from driving for life.
In January 2022, he was sentenced to a further jail term of one year, nine months and 16 weeks. Lee faced other 15 charges including offences of corruption and remote gambling.
