Speaking to FMT, RSN Rayer said traffic laws would be good enough to jail the 19-year-old driver.
“If she is charged with murder, the prosecutors must satisfy several requirements laid out in the section for murder in the Penal Code,” he said. “The defence would easily be able to poke holes into the prosecution’s case. She would then be out scot-free.”
In the Tuesday morning incident, the teenager drove for five kilometres from Sungai Dua to Butterworth on the wrong side of the North-South Expressway. Witnesses said her Proton Gen 2 crashed into nine vehicles and collided head-on with a Perodua Kelisa on the fast lane. This resulted in the death of the Perodua driver, a 26-year-old man.
Police said the teenager tested positive for methamphetamine, a hallucinating drug often referred to as meth.
Rayer said nothing in the incident matched any definition of murder in Section 300 of the Penal Code.
“This cannot be murder, let alone a cold-blooded murder with intent to kill,” he said. “This is merely an act of recklessness under the influence, which led to the death of another.”
Rayer said the teenager faced “six to seven years” in jail if she was charged with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He said the jail term could be longer if the judge wanted to impose a deterrent sentence.
However, law lecturer Shamsher Singh Thind said police should investigate the teenage driver under Section 300(d) of the Penal Code for murder.
Section 330 (d) gives the hypothetical example of a person who, without any excuse, fires a loaded cannon into a crowd of people and kills one of them. Such a person would be guilty of murder even if he had no premeditated design to kill anyone.
“Driving in an opposite lane at 110km/h is as dangerous as firing a loaded cannon into a crowd, in my opinion,” Shamser said in a statement on Facebook.
He said police should investigate the girl for murder unless she was found to have been drugged involuntarily or trying to escape from danger.
Central Seberang Prai police chief Nik Ros Azhan Abdul Hamid said it was best for police to investigate the incident under traffic laws.
Speaking to reporters in Bukit Mertajam yesterday, he said a murder charge would be unlikely as the girl “had no intention to kill”.
He said she would be punished severely enough if she was found guilty under Section 144 of the Road Transport Act for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“We are confident of getting her charged in court by this week,” he added.
Under Section 144, she faces a minimum sentence of three years’ jail and a maximum of 10 years. A fine of RM8,000 to RM20,000 may be imposed as well. She may also be suspended from driving for at least five years. Since she is a probationary “P” driver, her licence would be immediately revoked by the court.
Nik Ros noted that only a two-year jail sentence and a fine were possible under Section 304A of the Penal Code, which deals with causing death by negligence.
He said the suspect had gone out drinking with friends before the incident.