The minibus’ in-car camera did not capture the accident, as its memory card may not have been recording or was corrupted. - Photo: Shin Min Daily News
SINGAPORE: Every day, seven-year-old Nivya Rameshwar would leave home with her helper to wait for the school bus.
On the morning of Aug 15, 2024, the helper crossed the road in their Sengkang condominium first to put down Nivya’s school bags, and told the girl to wait for her.
But Nivya was hit by a minibus on the road.
She died in hospital an hour later.
On Thursday (Feb 20), a coroner’s inquiry opened into the death of the Singaporean girl, who was killed at The Topiary, an executive condominium development near Seletar Mall.
Nivya’s parents attended the inquiry, with the family’s lawyers Alfred Dodwell and Lolita Andrew.
Station Inspector (SI) Jeff Tan, a Traffic Police (TP) investigation officer, told the court what happened at around 6.20am on the day of the accident.
The family’s helper, Sivakumar Ilavarasi, told the police she usually takes Nivya to the carpark service road at their condominium block between 6.10am and 6.20am to wait for the school bus.
They would usually cross that road so Nivya could board the vehicle.
That day, Sivakumar told Nivya to wait for her at the gate of their block while she placed the girl’s school bags on the opposite side of the road, and said she would come back to carry her.
When Sivakumar was halfway across the road, she turned back and saw Nivya still standing at the gate.
But when she placed the girl’s bags down and turned around again, the girl was not there.
At the time, minibus driver Phua Hak Heong had just picked up a student at another block in the condominium and was on his way to fetch other students.
He was driving along the service road and slowed down when he saw Sivakumar crossing from his right to the left. He told TP he did not see Nivya.
He had said he felt an impact on the front right side of the minibus, and realised he had hit someone.
The helper ran to the girl and cried for help. Nivya’s father, Rameshwar Khirodhar, heard her screams from their home.
After seeing the helper cradling Nivya from his window, Rameshwar rushed down and carried his daughter to his car bonnet to check on her.
Nivya’s mother, a nurse, also hurried down.
SI Tan said that when she saw her daughter, she knew it was not good.
The girl suffered chest and abdominal injuries.
She was taken to Sengkang General Hospital and died about an hour later at 7.30am.
Phua was arrested that day for careless driving causing death. It is not known if he will be charged.
SI Tan said the minibus’ in-car camera did not capture the accident, as its memory card might not have been recording or was corrupted.
Camera footage from a first-floor unit of the condominium block showed only the shadow of a woman crossing the road, and a smaller shadow shortly after.
Said SI Tan: “The smaller shadow seemed to remain in the middle of the road, and as the (mini)bus drove, the smaller shadow could be seen stepping backwards.”
However, he said he could not confirm if the smaller shadow was indeed Nivya and needed to get experts’ opinions on this.
Andrew asked about the vehicle’s speed, and if there was a speed limit on the service road.
SI Tan said there was no speed analysis done for the vehicle, but added: “From the basic facts of the case, we don’t deem that the vehicle was speeding unnecessarily.”
He added that there is no legal speed limit as the roads in the condominium estate are not gazetted.
He said drivers there are encouraged to go between 15kmh and 20kmh, but this limit is not enforceable by law.
The condominium management originally arranged for school buses to fetch students at a common pickup point, but this plan was scrapped.
SI Tan said parents had given feedback that it was too far, and they would have to wake their children up five to 10 minutes earlier.
So the minibus was allowed to pass through the service road to pick up children.
The court also heard that there was a wall and some bushes at Nivya’s block that might have obscured drivers’ view of pedestrians.
State Coroner Adam Nakhoda directed SI Tan to provide the Health Sciences Authority with footage of the accident to establish whether the driver’s speed could be analysed.
He also asked the investigator to confirm the height of the wall and bushes, and to check if a breathalyser test was done on Phua.
Findings will be delivered at a later date. - The Straits Times/ANN
