Worker jailed for harming colleague

A Singapore court found the worker guilty of causing grievous hurt by performing a negligent act

Worker jailed for harming colleague

An employee in Singapore has been jailed two weeks for causing serious harm on his colleague.

On 25 August last year, Foo Kien How was reportedly tired of waiting for a forklift driver to help him load some goods onto a lorry and decided to operate the vehicle.

Foo is unlicensed but decided to move the goods himself after spotting an unmanned forklift nearby with its key in the ignition. He ended up running over his co-worker.

Foo had only stopped the forklift after he heard other workers shouting. His colleague suffered from a collapsed lung and multiple fractures. He was taken to hospital and was discharged a month later.

The court found him guilty of causing grievous hurt by performing a negligent act.

No one had instructed Foo to operate the forklift at that time, said prosecutor Charleston Teo.

"The accused claimed to have prior experience of driving a forklift when he was in Malaysia and thus decided to operate the unmanned forklift on his own, despite not possessing a Singapore forklift licence," Teo added.

For causing grievous hurt by performing a negligent act, Foo could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000, according to The Straits Times.

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