High Court rules that evidence is insufficient to support a conviction for dangerous driving.
PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Terengganu High Court has reduced a dangerous driving conviction against a 50-year-old man to one of careless and inconsiderate driving, imposing an RM8,000 fine over a crash that resulted in the death of a six-month-old infant four years ago.
Justice Yusrin Faidz Yusoff held that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Nazri Selamat had driven dangerously, and set aside his conviction under Section 41 of the Road Transport Act 1987. The court substituted the conviction with an offence under Section 43 of the same Act for driving without due care and attention.
On Sept 28 last year, the Setiu magistrates’ court sentenced Nazri to five years’ imprisonment and fined him RM20,000, or 12 months’ jail in default. He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for five years from the date of conviction. The case stemmed from a fatal three-vehicle accident along the Kuala Terengganu-Kota Bharu road on April 25, 2022. Nazri’s car collided with another vehicle carrying a couple and their six-month-old son.
Following the initial collision, the vehicle was struck by a motorcycle. The infant sustained severe injuries and died in hospital. Nazri was initially charged under Section 41 of the Road Transport Act 1987 with causing death by reckless or dangerous driving, but the prosecution subsequently amended the charge to allege that he had driven in a dangerous manner. The magistrates’ court convicted him, prompting his appeal to the High Court.
In a 42-page judgment released last week, Yusrin said the conviction for dangerous driving was unsafe for several reasons. Although the prosecution was legally entitled to amend the charge during the trial, he said, doing so after seven prosecution witnesses had testified prejudiced Nazri’s defence.
“The amendment changed the nature of the case from proving subjective recklessness to proving an objective standard of dangerous driving, depriving the appellant of the opportunity to adequately cross-examine earlier witnesses on the revised charge,” he said. Yusrin also noted that an independent witness and motorcyclist, Liza Hasan, had failed to mention in her police report a crucial allegation that Nazri had entered the opposite lane, despite later testifying to that effect in court.
The judge described the omission as a material contradiction that undermined the reliability of her evidence. He further found that the evidence supported more than one reasonable inference as to how the accident occurred and that any doubt had to be resolved in favour of the appellant. Yusrin also considered whether the absence of a child restraint system had contributed to the infant’s death.
He said the failure to properly secure the child was a relevant factor in determining whether the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Nazri’s driving alone had caused the death. However, the judge found that Nazri had driven without due care and attention, relying principally on his admission that he had fallen asleep while driving and his failure to take precautions despite experiencing fatigue.
“I, therefore, substitute a conviction for careless driving,” Yusrin said, adding that the appellant’s conduct nevertheless fell short of the higher threshold required to establish dangerous driving under Section 41. In determining the sentence, the judge took into account Nazri’s status as a first-time offender, his role as the sole breadwinner of his family, and his expression of remorse. He also acknowledged the devastating impact of the infant’s death on the family.
Lawyer Nadzim Ibrahim represented Nazri, while deputy public prosecutors Noradila Ab Latif and Qayyim Irfan Baharuddin appeared for the prosecution.
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