At the request of the deceased's father, I attended the Coroner's inquest held on 4/7/08 at the Subordinate Court to determine the cause of the untimely demise of a bright young man.
The verdict: misadventure. None was found culpable for the tragic incident. A series of unfortunate events leading to a lorry running over Mr Lim.
Yet the grieving parents could not find closure at such a verdict, as the findings were primarily based on the accounts of 2 witnesses - one from Mr Edward Phua who probably would be hard put to describe what exactly happened in the split seconds behind him.
Could it be possible that the lorry behind had first collided into Mr Lim's scooter thus causing it to knock into Mr Phua's bike? This doubt will probably forever linger in the minds of the elder Mr & Mrs Lim, unless other independent eye witnesses come forward with a different account. Another witness taking shelter under the flyover had in essence corroborated Mr Phua's accounts thus leading to the Coroner's verdict.
With this in mind, this post also serves as an open appeal to any eye witness to come forward with more information on how the accident occurred.
Date of accident: 20 Oct 2007. Time: around 7.30am. Venue: PIE in the direction of Changi Airport, under the Toh Guan Flyover. Weather: Rainy.
Meanwhile, I have helped the father make a claim on his personal accident policy which has been admitted by NTUC Income after a post-mortem toxicology test report proved that he was not riding under the influence of alcohol. It wasn't much but every bit helps as the family is not well-off and has a younger son still studying at NTU.
The elder Mr Lim has also asked me to assist in getting from the SAF a compensation due when a serviceman dies whilst in service. The payment was withheld pending the outcome of the Traffic Police investigation to ensure there was no "gross misconduct" by the deceased during this unfortunate incident.
Another matter which I hope to be of help is getting some form of compensation from Mr Lim's Prudential life insurance policy which had reportedly lapsed due to non-payment of premiums.
"... We do not choose to be born.
We do not choose our parents.
We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing.
We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death.
But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live."
- Joseph Epstein (Polish-born activist & leader of the French Resistance during WWII)
Given this lesson in the fragility and uncertainty of life, how will you choose to live your lives?
3. Make more money?
2. Gain respect from peers and the public?
1. Or, make a difference in others' lives?
Or, best of all, to be able to do all the above three, which, according to a survey, was the topmost 3 things (ranked as shown above) people want from their career.
How? you may ask. Email me.
1 comment:
How sad to know that the deceased is one of your policyholders.
A tragic accident and a life is lost.There is;however,a little solace:During their darkest hours;you have done much for his family,and proved what a fine agent you are.
Well done!
Post a Comment