Sunday 7 February 2010

Romanian envoy facing charges of manslaughter

A Romanian diplomat is facing manslaughter charges following a deadly hit-and-run accident in Singapore, the Romanian prosecutor’s office said yesterday.

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Guanyu said...

Romanian envoy facing charges of manslaughter

04 February 2010

BUCHAREST: A Romanian diplomat is facing manslaughter charges following a deadly hit-and-run accident in Singapore, the Romanian prosecutor’s office said yesterday.

Dr Silviu Ionescu, charge d’affaires in Singapore, is alleged to have hit two pedestrians while he was driving the Romanian embassy car in the early morning of Dec 15. The diplomat drove on and only minutes later hit another person. One of the victims suffered brain damage and died on Dec 25 while the other two suffered injuries.

After the second accident, Dr Ionescu, 49, called the police to report his car was missing, ‘an allegation which has been proven false’, the prosecutor’s office was quoted as saying in an Agence France-Presse report late last night.

The date for his indictment was not yet known, according to the news agency.

The Romanian foreign ministry, which recalled the diplomat a few days after the incident, had called for an investigation by Romanian prosecutors and pledged to ‘cooperate with the Singaporean authorities in order to clarify this affair’.

The ministry has also transferred to investigators the information gathered during its own internal inquiry. Singapore police say they have evidence that Dr Ionescu was the driver of the car involved in the accident.

In rare proceedings last week, Principal Senior State Counsel Lau Wing Yum told State Coroner Victor Yeo that Dr Ionescu beat two red lights and hit the three pedestrians while driving an Audi A6 sedan on Dec 15. Less than an hour later, he made a false police report that the car had been stolen. Three days later, he left Singapore.

Mr. Tong Kok Wai, 30, one of the three victims, died 10 days after the accident at the junction of Bukit Panjang Road and Bangkit Road.

Two others, waiter Bong Hwee Haw, 24, and Muhammad Haris Abu Talib, 18, were hurt.

Last Wednesday’s proceedings were held ahead of an inquest into Mr. Tong’s death.

The inquiry itself has been fixed to last a week from March 3 and the court will hear evidence from at least 35 witnesses.

According to international regulations, diplomats enjoy immunity in their host country but not in their country of origin.