SINGAPORE: A 29-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to five years and nine months’ jail in Australia on Monday (Nov 2) after he killed a man who stole a backpack from his rental car.
Lincoln Ng Jing Kai chased the man in a car and knocked him off his e-bike, before driving over him.
He was originally charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August after prosecutors agreed to accept the lesser charge.
Sentencing him, Judge Terence Palmer said Ng’s actions “involved an element of taking the law into your own hands and a degree of vigilantism”, even if he did not intend to seriously injure him and he was expecting the police to arrive.
The Supreme Court of Western Australia heard that Ng was on an eight-day holiday in Perth with his girlfriend and her family and had planned to propose to her. They rented a car to use during their holiday.
On May 23, 2024, the group drove to East Victoria Park for dinner and parked the car nearby. The backpack was left in the boot of the car, and contained a passport, iPad, some cash and an AirTag tracker.
The man, Mr Mark John Burnes, had seen the family and Ng leave the backpack in the car and decided to break into the car to steal it. He had called his partner to tell her of his intentions.
After smashing the back window of the car, Mr Burnes left with the stolen backpack and returned to the room he shared with his partner. They discovered the AirTag, which she attempted to dispose of by throwing it into the tray of a vehicle parked outside.
When Ng and his girlfriend’s family returned to the car, they found that it had been broken into and they reported it to the police.
Later that evening, Ng’s girlfriend’s brother activated the AirTag to track it and noticed its location moving. He contacted police and was advised to call back once the location had stabilised.
THE FATAL PURSUIT
The following day, Ng and his girlfriend’s family reported the theft and replaced their damaged car with the rental company.
At about 8am, they activated the AirTag again and saw it near a construction site. They called the police with the location.
The construction site was a short distance away from where Mr Burnes and his partner were staying.
Sometime after 12.30pm, the group decided to drive past the location where the AirTag was. About an hour later, Ng’s girlfriend’s brother called the police.
While the group was at the construction site looking for the AirTag, Mr Burnes rode past on an e-bike carrying what appeared to be the stolen backpack.
Ng’s girlfriend’s brother and his father saw Mr Burnes cycle past and got into the car. The older man told Ng to follow Mr Burnes so they would not lose sight of him.
Ng pursued Mr Burnes for about 10 minutes around the streets of Carlisle, Perth. His girlfriend’s brother remained on the phone with the police, updating them on their location.
As Mr Burnes left the road onto a grass verge, someone from the back of the car told Ng to give the bike “a tap”, the court heard.
Ng hit the rear wheel of Mr Burnes’ e-bike, causing him to fall. He made a U-turn to face Mr Burnes and had to reverse a little to avoid an obstacle.
Mr Burnes yelled threats at the group, and Ng was scared he might attack. He thought Mr Burnes was coming towards the car and he wanted to reverse away from him.
Ng stepped down hard on the accelerator, thinking that the car transmission was in reverse, but it was in drive.
The car moved forward and struck the man, who fell to the ground and went under the car. Ng then drove off the verge and onto the street, while the man was trapped under the front driver’s wheel.
Ng continued to drive about 25m up the street, dragging the man under the car.
The prosecution said it should have been evident to Ng that Mr Burnes was trapped under the car, but Ng argued that he did not know that was the case. The judge accepted that there was a risk he might have been under the car, but was not persuaded that the risk was obvious to Ng.
Bystanders ran up to the car and attempted to stop Ng by yelling or banging on the window.
Ng reversed the car and Mr Burnes was released from underneath it. Ng then waited by the side of the road for the police to arrive.
Mr Burnes was declared dead in hospital at 2.42pm after sustaining multiple injuries. Ng was arrested at the scene.
He admitted to police that night that he had pursued Mr Burnes and hit him so he would fall off his bike. Ng said it was a very light tap to cause him to fall to buy time for the police to arrive, after which Mr Burnes shouted aggressively at him.
MITIGATION, AGGRAVATING FACTORS
The judge said he accepted that Ng thought Mr Burnes posed an imminent threat to the car and its occupants, and that the decision was a “split second decision made under pressure”.
However, he said if Mr Burnes posed a threat to those in the car, it was because Ng was using a car to chase and confront him.
Justice Palmer also noted that Mr Burnes was in a vulnerable position, as he was on an e-bike while Ng was in a car.
He said Ng should have stopped immediately after realising that the vehicle was moving forward instead of reversing.
“Your counsel suggested that you have not appreciated what you were doing because you were addled. While I accept that you may have panicked at the time, I am not satisfied that you were so addled to not appreciate the obvious risk associated with driving towards Mr Burnes,” said the judge.
In mitigation, the judge considered Ng’s guilty plea, lack of prior criminal history and genuine remorse.
Justice Palmer accepted that Ng’s actions were out of character and that he had excellent prospects of rehabilitation.
The judge also considered the influence of Ng’s prospective father-in-law, who had directed him to pursue Mr Burnes, although he stressed that Ng was ultimately responsible for controlling the vehicle.
Ng’s jail sentence was backdated to when he was first taken into custody on May 24, 2024, and he will be eligible for parole after three years and nine months’ imprisonment.
