The family and friends of a young Malaysian woman who died after the electric scooter she was riding was hit by a car late at night in Lisbon are desperate for answers.
The driver responsible, also a foreigner, has subsequently told police that he did not stop after the incident, because he feared he might be attacked by passers’ by.
Roughly half an hour later, however, he ‘turned himself in’ (it is not clear whether he called police, or physically entered a police station). He claimed that the victim was “going in the wrong direction”.
As friends stress: “It is extremely strange because the driver claimed the victim was coming from his left side, but she was hit by the right side of his car. As no witnesses have come forward and there is no CCTV/ dashcam evidence, we do not know if this is true”
The appeal thus is particularly focused on the “several people” that the driver claims were present in the immediate area at the time.
The victim was hit on the ‘Rotunda dos Vice-reis’ (roundabout) exit towards the Myriad Hotel, Parque das Nações.
It was just before 10.45pm on Wednesday, August 27. The young woman had just left her job at Marisqueira Lusa (roughly 600 metres from the scene of the accident) and will have travelled this route frequently. As her family suggest, she would have known which side of the road to drive on.
The car that hit the victim was a brown Peugeot 5008. As we have said, the driver has assumed responsibility, but claims the victim was on the wrong side of the road.
Anyone with any information could either contact the victim’s boss Zhan Liang (languages spoken: only Mandarin and Portuguese) at Marisqueira Lusa, or go directly to the police (Lisbon Metropolitan Command Traffic Division). The case number is 4143.
The family also have hired a lawyer, able to receive information: Paulo Calçada, tel: +351 914 508 270, email: pc@calcada-advogados.com
A close friend explains that she visited the site of the crash the day after the victim’s death. “It is not a busy area. It is also an area where cars should not go fast as the area consists of small and short roads, in between roundabouts”.
The family reached out to the Resident for this appeal because they realised how often we have reported on hit-and-runs in Portugal.
