Jaskaran Singh: Libby Ruge crash driver granted bail
The driver of a car which slammed into a group of pedestrians, killing young Libby Ruge on a night out, has been released from prison after six days behind bars on remand.
Illawarra Star
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The “softly spoken” driver of a car that ploughed into and killed an Illawarra teen in front of her friends has been granted bail after spending six days behind bars on remand.
Jaskaran Singh, 18, faced Wollongong Local Court from a cell at Parklea Jail on Monday, where a magistrate agreed to release him from custody, despite labelling the crash as “complete stupidity”.
Singh’s defence lawyer Patrick Schmidt told the court the 18-year-old Indian student had “great shame” over the horrific crash, which claimed the life of 19-year-old Kiama woman Libby Ruge last week.
Ms Ruge, along with her boyfriend Luke Day and friends Tye West and Eva Deans, were walking along Flinders Street just after 10.30pm on November 7, when a Toyota Camry being driven by Singh ploughed into them.
Ms Ruge died while Ms Deans and Mr West were taken to hospital. Ms Ruge’s boyfriend escaped injury.
The court was told last week that Singh’s front seat passenger Arpan Sharma, 21, admitted to police he caused the crash by pulling up the handbrake. He was charged with a raft of dangerous driving offences and was granted bail last Monday, walking from Parklea jail on the following morning. He has not yet entered pleas to the charges.
Singh, who has been charged with several offences related to dangerous and negligent driving, was refused bail last week by Magistrate Susan McGowan who said he had few community ties and was a flight risk.
However, Singh returned to court on Monday, where his lawyer said the 18-year-old was a “softly spoken young man” who had stable accommodation at the University of Wollongong’s Campus East, and could provide a $5000 bail surety, as well as surrender his passport if released on bail.
Mr Schmidt again made it clear that Singh and Sharma were not friends, and that Singh was giving Sharma a lift home from a party because he feared the 21-year-old was going to drive home drunk.
He told the court the Toyota Camry Singh was driving at the time of the crash was not his, and that Sharma was the instigator, allegedly pulling up the handbrake and causing the vehicle to slide for 30 metres before it was released. The vehicle allegedly travelled a further 20 metres before “veering sharply” and colliding with Ms Ruge and her friends.
“There’s no doubt there is community outrage in relation to this after and I don’t blame them,” Mr Schmidt said. “It’s not one life that’s been affected, it’s several.”
Police prosecutor Sergeant Ben Bragger strenuously opposed bail, saying a $5000 bail surety “when someone is dead is not a lot of money”.
“Someone is dead, it can’t be overstated how serious this matter is,” he said.
He disagreed with Mr Schmidt’s submission that Singh had strong community ties in the Illawarra Indian community, saying they were “temporary”.
Magistrate Brett Thomas granted Singh bail despite saying the crash was “complete stupidity”, noting he did not have a criminal record and had stable accommodation.
He imposed several strict conditions, ordering the 18-year-old surrender his passport, report to police daily, stay away from Sharma or any other witnesses and deposit a $5000 surety.
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