Jail for man who hijacked taxi and then running over cleaner at Budget Terminal

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A 31-year-old man who hijacked a taxi at Changi Airport's budget terminal and ran over a cleaning supervisor was sentenced to 25 months in jail on Monday.

China national Yuan Zhenghua was also disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for eight years. He pleaded guilty to all five charges including dangerous driving, theft of motor vehicle and driving without a licence.

In March last year, Yuan careened into the Budget Terminal departure hall and hit Mr Chandra Mogan Panjanathan, 34, who was operating a floor-scrubbing machine. The Malaysian father of four, who was at the end of his shift, died instantly.

In mitigation, Mr Anand Nalachandran, one of three lawyers who represented Yuan on a pro bono basis, said that at the time of the incident, he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and that he was delusional. The former technician has been remanded since a day after the incident last year.

Here is an earlier report from March 17, 2012:

A man died on Saturday morning after he was hit by a hijacked taxi at the driveway in front of the Budget Terminal.

The 34-year-old Indian man, Mr Chandra Mogan, a cleaner on duty at the airport, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics at 7.13am.

The police received a call at about 6.50am regarding an assault by a 30-year-old Chinese national passenger on a 57-year-old taxi driver along the stretch of Airport Boulevard in front of SATS In-flight Catering Centre 1.

The passenger, who was headed for Changi Airport, started getting violent towards taxi driver Yeow Chuwee Lam during the journey, said a statement released by Comfort Delgro.

The taxi driver later activated the distress button and got out of the cab.

According to Comfort Delgro spokesperson Tammy Tan, the passenger had also stepped out and allegedly started to attack the driver.

Police said the passenger was later seen taking over the wheel and driving the taxi towards the direction of the Budget Terminal.

The taxi hit Mr Mogan along the driveway of the terminal and smashed into a glass side door next to McDonald's. A traffic light was also badly damaged.