Woman drove off with cyclist on bonnet — that was her ‘defence mechanism’ to leave scene of dispute, her lawyer says
A court heard in February that the two women had gotten into a heated verbal exchange as Ow, a cooking instructor, was trying to go to her cooking class.During the clash, Ow had apologised to Tan after the cyclist complained that Ow had driven too close to her bicycle. After that, Ow uttered “okay” to herself and accelerated through the cross-junction with Tan still lying on the bonnet, holding a windscreen wiper with one hand and banging on the windscreen with the other.Deputy Public Prosecutor Mark Chia told the court that the woman had various driving-related offences, including a drink-driving conviction in 2006, failing to conform to a red light signal in 2021 and multiple offers of composition paid for parking across a continuous white line.
The woman’s lawyer, Mr R S Bajwa from law firm Bajwa and Co, argued that the case had “very unique” circumstances and that a high fine would be sufficient. He argued that while Ow was able to “contain her emotions” during her verbal exchange with the cyclist, she started to panic when she reversed her car and was horned at by other motorists.
However, Ow’s history and “shocked and panicked” state did leave her more likely to have a “flight” instead of “fight” response to the situation.