SINGAPORE - The auxiliary police officer who was seriously hurt and left in a vegetative state after a drunk driver rammed into him at Tuas Checkpoint was about to get married and collect the keys to his new Housing Board flat.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Mr Ng Yi Shu’s brother Alex Ng said the 30-year-old officer from Certis was supposed to collect the keys to his Build-To-Order flat in end-2023.
Mr Alex Ng, 32, said his younger brother is now bed-bound and unable to speak and walk. He has to be fed via a tube through his nose and does not respond to his name.
Mr Ng Yi Shu was working at the checkpoint on March 24, 2023, when Yoong Kok Kai crashed into him while driving a car.
Yoong, 44, was speeding and had almost double the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
Said Mr Alex Ng: “Even a year after the accident, my brother’s girlfriend kept visiting him. She would even send him text messages on his phone, as though he would reply.
“But his doctors told us that he will be permanently disabled for the rest of his life. Eventually, I had to tell her that it is okay to move on from my brother, and that was one of the toughest things I had to do.”
Yoong was sentenced on March 17 to three years and six months’ jail for causing grievous hurt by dangerous driving and driving under the influence. He will also be disqualified from driving for 10 years after his release.
Mr Alex Ng said his brother’s sentence is for life.
He added: “When I saw the accident footage played in court, I teared up, but I also felt angry. The state my brother is in now, to me, is no different from death.
“Not that it would have changed anything, but the driver never reached out to us to apologise for what he’s done.”
Mr Alex Ng added: “It feels like we’re in prison with him. But the difference is, he’ll be released when his jail term ends.
“For us, the pain will continue.”
Broke down
Mr Alex Ng said he was at home in the flat they share with their father in Boon Lay when the accident happened around midnight.
“My father and I were sleeping when it happened, and our phones were on silent mode, so no one could reach us,” said the accountant.
“It was only when Yi Shu’s supervisor turned up at our door that I realised something bad had happened.”
He immediately left for the National University Hospital with his father.
“When we saw Yi Shu lying there in the intensive care unit, unconscious, with blood on him, we just broke down,” said Mr Alex Ng.
“The doctors said they did not expect him to wake up and told us to prepare for the worst. I felt so helpless. I didn’t know what to do.”
Even as he was trying to come to terms with his brother’s condition, Mr Alex Ng said he realised he had to break the news to his brother’s girlfriend.
“After more than five years together, they were about to collect the keys to their new BTO flat in Boon Lay. Then they were going to get married and possibly have kids.
“How was I supposed to tell her that he was never going to wake up?
“What the driver did affected not just the life of my brother, but also everyone around him.”
Over the next three months, Mr Ng Yi Shu underwent at least 12 operations.
He needed a ventilator to breathe, and while he is currently in a stable condition, he will never be himself again, said Mr Alex Ng.
The prosecutor told the court that Mr Ng Yi Shu was thrown into the air upon impact and landed on his face.
He had a severe traumatic brain injury and extensive facial fractures. The court heard that he is physically and mentally incapacitated from ever being employed again.
Mr Alex Ng said: “The doctors said he will likely be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life, and that he will never fully recover.”
According to court documents, the hospital bill is in excess of $455,000, including more than $10,500 which had to be paid out of pocket.
Mr Alex Ng spoke about how he has to juggle work and his brother’s affairs, including liaising with a nursing home to ensure that his brother gets appropriate care.
“It is tiring and stressful, but if the roles were reversed, I know my brother would do the same for me,” he said.
Their 64-year-old father quit his job as a freelance driver.
He has become the main caregiver for his son, who permanently resides at NTUC Health Nursing Home (Jurong Spring) but was recently hospitalised at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital due to an unstable heart rate.
Mr Alex Ng said his father would visit Mr Ng Yi Shu every day and spend the whole day at the nursing home, which is about a 20-minute walk from their home.
“He leaves at around 7am and returns home at 8pm.
“He will stretch and massage Yi Shu’s legs, clean and shave his face, talk to him and have lunch by his bedside,” said Mr Alex Ng.
Speeding and drinking
ncvictim23 - Damaged public property in the aftermath of the incident. Credit for all pix: Court Documents
Damaged public property in the aftermath of the incident. PHOTO: COURT DOCUMENTS
Mr Alex Ng attended the hearing when Yoong was sentenced. His father was too distraught and did not want to hear the details of the crash.
Yoong had been drinking for more than seven hours before the accident. He wanted to drive home to Yishun, but for some reason, he wound up approaching Tuas Checkpoint instead.
He was clocked speeding along the checkpoint’s car departure lane viaduct at up to 119kmh – more than double the 50kmh limit.
Mr Ng Yi Shu, who was on duty at the checkpoint at the time, saw the speeding car and ran behind a safety bollard and gantry in an attempt to get out of the way.
Yoong lost control of his car when approaching a bend and it hit a divider before mounting a kerb, striking Mr Ng.
The impact was so great that it uprooted the safety bollard, gantry, barrier and a traffic light.
The prosecution said Yoong caused more than $37,000 in damages at the scene of the accident. He has not made restitution.
ncvictim23 - The damage done to Yoong Kok Kai's car after the incident. Credit for all pix: Court Documents
The damage done to Yoong Kok Kai’s car after the incident.PHOTO: COURT DOCUMENTS
In a statement to ST, a spokesman for Certis said the company has been providing support to Mr Ng Yi Shu and his family since the incident.
“We have continued to keep the officer on our payroll while maintaining constant contact with his family, providing all forms of support, including financial and legal, to the family.
“Certis has also covered the majority of the medical bills incurred so far,” said the spokesman.
According to court documents, Certis has forked out over $400,000 for Mr Ng Yi Shu’s medical bills and nursing home bills.
The Certis spokesman added: “We remain dedicated to supporting Mr Ng and his family through this difficult time.”
Mr Alex Ng said Yoong’s conviction has brought no closure for the family.
“My brother was a happy-go-lucky guy, an easy-going person who got along well with others... And now our home is a lot quieter without him.”
He added, while fighting back tears: “When I see him, I talk to him as though he can understand me, as though he’d reply, even though I know he can’t.”
Mr Ng Yi Shu is a shell of the man he used to be, said his family, and they have only their memories of him to hold on to.
On his way home from the nursing home, Mr Alex Ng would walk past the BTO block his brother was supposed to move into, which is just a 10-minute walk from the family’s flat.
“Every time I walk past Yi Shu’s BTO, I look at it and think, this could have been his life. But he was robbed of it.”
Nadine Chua is a crime and court journalist at The Straits Times.
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Thanks for sharing!