SINGAPORE: An electric-scooter rider on his way to deliver food to a customer collided with a three-year-old boy in a corridor of a mall in Serangoon, causing the child to fall backwards.

Neo Jia Ming, 20, who was a Deliveroo rider back then, collided into the child outside a shop on the fourth level of Nex mall on Mar 18.



Neo, who was also serving national service at the time, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Jun 27) to one charge of riding his e-scooter rashly and endangering the personal safety of the victim.

The court was shown closed-circuit television footage depicting the incident. The boy's mother was sitting outside the Gift Greetings shop at the mall while her son and husband were in the store.

The corridor was crowded, with people streaming through at about 7pm that day. Neo was riding his e-scooter along the corridor when he knocked into the boy just outside the shop, as the child was walking towards his mother.

The boy fell backwards and hit his head against the floor, sustaining a bruise that measured 3cm by 3cm.



Neo dismounted from his e-scooter and gave the boy's mother his name and contact number, before continuing to make his delivery.

The boy's mother later lodged a police report.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai told the court that he would not be objecting to probation for Neo.

He said Neo's speed was "not that fast" and that he was not "blazing through the corridor". He added that the reason "we prosecuted this case was that it was a crowded corridor".

To ride an e-scooter in a crowded mall places others in danger, said the prosecutor.

District Judge May Mesenas agreed, and asked Neo, who was unrepresented, if he had anything to say.

Neo said: "I will never ride in a mall again next time."

He told the judge that he "just got a proper job" in logistics. She called for a probation suitability report and adjourned the case to Jul 25.

The maximum penalties for causing hurt by a rash act are a year's jail, a S$5,000 fine, or both.

Deliveroo said in response to queries from CNA that it has a "zero-tolerance approach" towards those who break the rules and endanger their own safety and that of others.

"If a rider has been found to have broken the rules, we will stop working with them," said a Deliveroo spokesperson.