A 33-year-old Indonesian domestic worker, Lilyana Eva, went on trial in Singapore on October 15, 2025, accused of negligence causing the death of a four-year-old girl in a tragic River Valley car accident.
Lilyana had been walking the victim and her younger sister home from preschool on January 23, 2024, carrying their school bags and holding the younger child’s hand. As they crossed Institution Hill, the older girl broke free and ran ahead, crossing into the second lane of the road where she was struck by a car driven by a 40-year-old Australian woman. The impact caused fatal head injuries, including multiple skull and facial fractures.
A previous coroner’s inquiry found that the driver had not been speeding and that the child, at only one metre tall, was visible in the vehicle’s footage for barely a second before the collision — making her effectively unseen from the driver’s perspective.
At the opening of the trial before District Judge Ong Luan Tze, prosecutors sought and obtained a gag order protecting the identities of the victim, her family, their address and preschool. The accused’s name and the location of the accident remain public.
The prosecution’s first witness, forensic pathologist Dr Wu Jia Hao, testified that the child’s cause of death was a “head injury” resulting from compressive blunt-force trauma. After his evidence, the case was adjourned to November 2025.
Lilyana, represented by lawyers Alfred Dodwell and Lolita Andrew, has denied the charge and is currently residing at a HOME shelter, supported by the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics. If convicted of committing a negligent act endangering life, she faces up to three months’ imprisonment, a fine of S$1,500, or both.
