Man gets one week’s jail for negligent cycling that killed elderly pedestrian

SINGAPORE – A full-time national serviceman with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) was cycling in a negligent manner on a footpath when his rented bicycle struck an elderly pedestrian.

The 83-year-old woman suffered injuries including a fractured skull when she fell. She died of a head injury two days later on April 24, 2025.

Haaris Sulaiman, who has since completed his national service with the SPF, was sentenced to a week in jail on Aug 24 after he pleaded guilty to causing the victim’s death while cycling in a negligent manner.

The 22-year-old was also ordered to pay $5,000 in compensation, and will have to spend an additional 20 days behind bars if he fails to pay the amount.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ho May Kim told the court that Haaris was attached to Kampong Java Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) at the time of the offence.

On April 22, 2025, he was at Bugis Junction shopping mall at around 5.30pm when he decided to return home to get his police uniform and report for duty at the NPC by 6.30 pm.

He later rented a bicycle and cycled on a footpath along Rochor Road.

The speed limit for cycling on the footpath in the area was 10kmh, but at certain points, he was travelling at up to 14kmh.

The DPP said that while Haaris was checking for oncoming vehicles at a traffic junction on his right, he failed to observe that the elderly woman was walking on his left on the footpath.

The bicycle’s left handlebar struck the victim, causing her to fall and fracture her skull.

Haaris stopped to help the woman and called for an ambulance.

She was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, but died two days later.

Following the incident, Haaris offered to pay her family $5,000 in compensation.

However, the family rejected this offer on the basis that it was insufficient, and left it to the court to determine the appropriate amount.

Defence lawyer Faraaz Amzar pleaded with the court not to impose a custodial sentence on his client.

The lawyer also asked for Haaris to be given a four-day jail sentence, if the judge decided to send him to jail.

He added that Haaris was a very young man at the time of the offence, and is deeply remorseful.

Before handing down the sentence, District Judge Lim Tse Haw noted that The Straits Times had reported that accidents involving cyclists had hit a four-year high in 2025.

Stressing that the onus is on the cyclist to look out for pedestrians, he added: “Any death is one death too many.”

ST had reported that there were 772 accidents in 2025 involving cyclists, of which 17 were fatal.

There were 620 accidents involving cyclists in 2024 and 581 in 2023.

The police had said that more than half of the accidents were due to cycling in a disorderly manner and failing to keep a proper lookout.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.