YOURSAY | ‘When reacting in grief, they may be those who will shift the blame to others.’

Court frees woman from charge of reckless driving which killed 8 teens

Mazilamani: Why is no one questioning the lack of responsibility by the parents? What of the police? I am sure most of those killed may be students. What were they doing racing on the road at that ungodly hour of 3am?

The sheer number of racers on that road at that hour would have frightened anyone. That may have resulted in the driver panicking.

This carnage is the collective responsibility of the riders, parents, enforcers and the driver. The scar of the accident despite the reprieve will agonise her for the rest of her life.

The judge has not bowed to any pressure group but indirectly reminded all parties of their responsibilities.

Mano: The fact that the woman has to live with this incident for life and thinking about the incident over and over is so tragic, through no fault of her own.

The parents too have been unwittingly punished. They too have to relive this incident again and again and would be wondering if things were different, their children would be alive today.

What if I had stopped my son that night? What if I had woken up to see where my son was?

Ak47: Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali, well done. Your brief judgment is well written and has considered all angles of the circumstances of the incident.

Not many young magistrates have written judgments like this. Your advice to the police and parents must be taken in good faith and the menace of joyriding and mat rempits have to be stopped immediately.

The innocent ones are made to suffer, like in this case.

Anonymous_1543475877: @Ak47, something is fishy here. The magistrate's comments do not make sense. You praise her because you are obviously happy a Chinese female driver who caused the death of eight cyclists in one accident is acquitted.

The magistrate is implying that the accident was caused by the kids playing with their bikes at that time. I am sorry, I do not agree with her and with you.

It is difficult for a car travelling at 90 to 110 km/h to overturn even when braking hard. The car must have been speeding at 130 to 150 km/h.

Previously, I have suddenly come across revellers, celebrating on a public road one Chinese New Year day. There were at least 50 people, many of them drunk. The time was about 2.30am. My headlights picked them out and I was able to stop in time; nobody was injured.

The police and the magistrate must have acted in collusion to acquit her. Attorney-General Tommy Thomas must appeal in spite of Chinese partisan support for the verdict.

Killing and injuring 16 kids at any hour cannot be excusable just because it happened at 3am. Think logically.

Anonymous 3846326294: I accept and respect the decision by the Coroner's Court which conducted the inquest into the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.

According to coroner Rofiah Mohamad, the blunt chest trauma sustained by Adib during the incident was not self-inflicted or an accident, but was caused by two to three unidentified persons who pulled the victim out of the fire department EMRS van, hitting him and dragging him.

Similarly, I accept and respect magistrate Siti Hajar in freeing Sam Ke Ting from the charge of reckless driving which caused the death of eight teenage cyclists in 2017.

Justice should be blind to both race and religion.

Anonymous_1e23ccf0: Why would the AG appeal? Anyone who understands the law and the situation existing at the time of the accident would understand the magistrate’s decision as being the only correct decision.

The fact that she may have not reported it immediately is not indicative of her guilt. The problem is when people who are ignorant of the law, which incidentally facilitates the rationale behind the charges, decide to become experts.

Freddie Mercury: You may have escaped punishment on this earth for killing eight boys, but you won't escape them when you leave this world. I hope you can sleep well at night.

Anonymous_1550607211: It seems to me that some people who comment here had their minds made up and contort facts or make up "facts" to fit their desired narrative.

It is very strange how some people ask silly questions thinking they know more than the investigators of the accident scene.

Yes, let us not forget those who believe in the "conspiracy". And we wonder why we have so many problems with race and religion issues.

XED: While reacting in grief, there would be parents who would not accept responsibility for their bad parenting but would shift the blame onto the motorist.

Or shift blame onto the government for not making the road safer and onto the police for not enforcing the law strictly enough.

And there would be racists, the religious bigots, the male chauvinists, and those of the older generation who would see the driver as an easy target - because the victims were teenaged Malay boys enjoying themselves on flimsy bicycles while the accused person was a young Chinese woman driving a more powerful vehicle, a car (and that too late at night, when women of good character would be at home serving their husbands, parents, children and mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, etc.).

The insurance company for the driver should resist any claim for compensation that the parents take to court. The Welfare Department should take action against the parents for shirking their responsibilities, at the very least so as to protect the siblings of the dead boys.

Another outrageous example of parental irresponsibility - children sitting freely and without safety restraints on the front passenger seats of cars tearing down the highways, A mother’s arms are no guarantee of safety in such a situation.

When will the parents get punished for risking the lives of their children? But accidents happen only to others, right?

Sarawak4Malaysian: It is tragic that eight children perished from their own carelessness. But it is a bigger tragedy on a national scale if it is milked as a racial incident. I am sure Umno/PAS and some fringe NGOs will scream for justice.

Black Thorn: I am sorry for their parents’ loss, but these joy riders lying their body flat on their bicycles and speeding on the road really pose a danger to themselves and others. They don’t even follow the traffic rules and I have encountered them going against the traffic.

We see them so often on the road around Lembah Subang area. Usually, they will be riding in the evening when it is dark without lights and on weekends or on a long holiday break. Perhaps that is the only thrill they can afford.

We cannot make a judgement but it looks like their parents either didn’t know what was happening or didn’t care about their children’s welfare.

6th Generation Immigrant: Surely the findings of the courts, a not-guilty plea, the children out on the main road at 3am and unconcerned about the law and their own safety, parents, road maintenance team and statements from the royalty must all point out that there is a more serious issue in Malaysia that we should be concerned about.

We were almost at the point of becoming an advanced nation in 2020 and yet such a tragic incident can take place. Blame cannot be placed on any one party.

Our national system and administration must all reassess their policy - whatever they were preaching and practising have definitely landed on deaf ears.

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