The Public Prosecutions Office (MP) announced in a statement yesterday that a cabbie who killed a pedestrian after hitting her on a zebra crossing last week is facing a charge of homicide by negligence, and an examining magistrate has ordered that he be suspended from driving a taxi while awaiting trial.
The traffic accident occurred in Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga (雅廉訪大馬路) on Thursday last week.
According to the statement, the driver is suspected of having failed to reduce his speed and give way to the woman on a zebra crossing in the avenue. The pedestrian who suffered serious injuries died in hospital after emergency treatment to save her life had failed, the statement noted.
According to announcements by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) and the Public Security Police (PSP), the accident occurred at around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday last week, when a 67-year-old local woman was hit by a radio taxi when she was walking across the zebra crossing near Sacred Heart Canossian College (嘉諾撒聖心中學). Firemen and paramedics were unable to detect the victim’s heartbeat, and she was not breathing, when she was rushed to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre for emergency treatment.
According to the announcements, the taxi was turning into Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga from Rua do Padre João Clímaco (羅若翰神父街) when it hit the woman. The police have concluded that the driver had failed to give way to the woman on the zebra crossing.
Yesterday’s MP statement pointed out that according to the Macau Penal Code, homicide by negligence is punishable by a prison term of up to three years.
The MP statement said that the suspect who had been working as a taxi driver caused the traffic accident due to his failure to give way to the pedestrian on the zebra crossing, resulting in serious consequences, which was the victim’s death due to serious injuries.
The statement said that after considering that the driver seriously violated the traffic rules, an examining magistrate has decided to impose a raft of pre-trial conditions on him while releasing him on bail, such as being required to report to the police regularly and suspended from driving a taxi, “in order to safeguard the social order and the safety of public transport and to prevent him from committing criminal acts of the same nature”.
A plain-clothes police officer takes photos of the radio taxi which hit a woman on the zebra crossing near Sacred Heart Canossian College in Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga on Thursday night last week. Photo courtesy of TDM
