Maid jaywalked with girl, 4, who died in River Valley accident: Traffic Police officer

The maid who was with a four-year-old girl who died in a car accident in January had jaywalked with her, despite being told not to.

- Nadine Chua

A coroner’s inquiry into the death of Zara Mei Orlic on June 26 revealed that Zara had dashed across Institution Hill in River Valley on Jan 23 when the accident happened.

The little girl had suddenly appeared between two stationary vehicles along the two-lane road when a car driving from the opposite direction hit her.

Traffic Police Station Inspector (SI) Muhammad Firdaus Suleiman was called as a witness.

He said the maid, who was holding the hand of Zara’s two-year-old sister, was about three steps behind Zara and yelled for the car to stop when the collision occurred.

The maid told investigators that she was also holding the girls’ school bags, and allowed Zara to walk ahead of her, as she was an “independent child”.

When assisting officer Jeanice Lim asked how long it took for Zara to be visible in the in-car camera footage when she was hit, SI Firdaus replied that it was one second.