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here's the story Editor's jail, fine reduced 1 1/2-year jail term for dangerous driving reduced upon appeal By Selina Lum IT WAS a day of twists and turns for a newspaper editor in the High Court yesterday as she saw her 1 1/2-year jail term slashed to a day and her $12,000 fine reduced to $2,000. Changes after appeal THE FIRST CHARGE Causing the death of pillion rider Melania Melaniawati, 24, by dangerous driving. Maximum sentence under the law: Up to five years' jail. ... more Lim Hong Eng, the 56-year-old executive editor of Shin Min Daily News, was in court to hear the outcome of the appeal against her sentence for knocking down and injuring a motorcyclist and killing his female pillion rider. The appeal against her conviction was rejected, but the 1 1/2-year jail term dealt by a lower court was cut to a day's jail and a $12,000 fine on two charges. Then, later in the morning, defence lawyers and the prosecutor ran some checks and realised there had been a sentencing error in one of the two charges. The mistake was for the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, for which she was jailed a day and fined $10,000. The Road Traffic Act does not make a provision for a fine for this offence, only jail time. So it was back to court after the lunch hour. Justice Choo Han Teck set aside the $10,000 fine but did not increase the jail term, saying: 'In the circumstances, it will not be right to increase the custodial sentence to the detriment of the accused.' He made it clear, however, that this was a one-off case and was not to be used as a sentencing precedent. Lim will thus only have to go to jail for a day for the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, and pay a $2,000 fine for the other charge. Her counsel Subhas Anandan later told reporters that his client will donate $10,000 to charity. Really a shocker. Just goes to show some people can get away with anything, even when one's at fault.