A woman who admitted the hit-and-run killing of a 47-year-old New Zealand woman cyclist in Brunei has been jailed for 18 months.
But Zahratul Hasima Pg Hj Hassan's imprisonment has been suspended while she appeals her sentence, the Brunei Times reported.
Leanne Jefford, wife of Royal Brunei Airlines pilot Captain Michael Jefford, was hit from behind by Zahratul's car while she and a friend were cycling along a Brunei highway on April 13 last year.
Zahratul was arrested a few days later and initially pleaded guilty to five lesser charges, but not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Mrs Jefford.
After changing her plea to guilty, Zahratul was sentenced in the Bandar Seri Begawan Magistrates Court to 18 months' imprisonment, disqualified from holding a driver's licence for life, and fined $B5700 ($NZ5788) or told she could serve two months' jail in default.
Hassan's counsel told the court his client, an expectant mother of five, had been suffering depression due to marital problems and deeply regretted her actions.
But Chief Magistrate Abdullah Soefri said there were aggravating factors because she had two previous convictions for careless driving, one of which had cost her her licence for six months.
He noted that she made no attempt to renew her licence in the past three years and that she tried to conceal the accident by having repairs made to the dents Mrs Jefford's body left in her vehicle.
