--- title: "Singaporean driver who killed cyclist in Perth sentenced to over 5 years’ jail in Australia" url: "/trending-now/singaporean-driver-who-killed-cyclist-perth-sentenced-over-5-years-jail-australia" published: "2026-11-03T03:10:31.000Z" updated: "2026-11-03T03:10:31.000Z" section: "Trending Now" tags: ["TNP News","Singaporean","Perth","cyclist","murder","jail"] --- # Singaporean driver who killed cyclist in Perth sentenced to over 5 years’ jail in Australia Fatimah Mujibah The Straits Times Nov 2, 2026 A Singaporean has been sentenced to five years and nine months’ jail after running over a cyclist in Perth in 2024. Ng Jing Kai, 29, who had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August, was handed the sentence on the morning of Nov 2, 2026, in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. His sentence was backdated to when he was first arrested on May 24, 2024. He has been held in custody in Australia since. On June 21, 2024, he was charged initially with murder in a lower court before the charge was later reduced. Ng had arrived in Perth for a holiday with his family and friends on May 20 that year. He had planned to propose to his girlfriend during the trip, the court heard on Nov 2, 2026. Ng, a former mathematics tutor, was driving a grey Kia Carnival in Carlisle, a suburb in Perth, when the incident happened at around 1.45pm on May 24, 2024. The victim, identified as Mark John Burnes in court documents, had stolen a bag of valuables, including an AirTag, after breaking into the car a day earlier. Ng and his family found Burnes by tracking the AirTag, with Ng tailing him while he was on his e-bike. He followed Burnes for about 10 minutes, while his girlfriend’s brother was on the phone updating the police. Ng then knocked Burnes’ e-scooter over, causing him to fall. Burnes later stood up, but Ng accelerated his vehicle and knocked him down again. Ng then continued to drive for up to 25m with Burnes pinned under the car. Delivering Ng’s sentence, Judge Terence Palmer said: “Using the car to pursue and confront Mr Burnes involved very poor decision-making. The chase itself could easily have resulted in a serious accident. Trying to manoeuvre a large vehicle in close proximity to someone on an e-bike during a tense confrontation is also very dangerous.” He added: “The decision to pursue and confront Mr Burnes, particularly the decision to knock him off his bike, involved an element of taking the law into your own hands and a degree of vigilantism.” But the judge acknowledged that Ng might not have been aware that Burnes was pinned under his car. He added that Ng’s records indicated that he was a person of prior good character, and that he had no criminal history in Western Australia or Singapore. The sentencing also included a victim impact statement from Burnes’ father. Peter Baclay Burnes said the loss of his son Mark had a huge impact on Mark’s entire family, including his three children. He said that two of the children, one of whom has a disability, do not have any living parent. He added that Mark’s brother was also impacted by the death and had to move overseas.