Five officers charged for involvement in death of SCDF NSF

The court has charged five Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers who were involved in a ragging incident that led to the death of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) in May.

CPL Kok Yuen Chin, an SCDF Full-Time National Serviceman from Tuas View Fire Station, who was celebrating his impending ORD with his squad mates, passed away on 13 May.

According to SCDF, at about 9.20pm, CPL Kok was found unconscious at the bottom of the fire station’s pump well, which is a reservoir of water used by fire station personnel for training and for testing the pumps of fire engines.

It said that one of the activities during the celebration involved getting him into the pump well. Unfortunately, CPL Kok did not resurface. A number of SCDF personnel jumped into the pump well to locate CPL Kok, however, they were unsuccessful.

SCDF stated earlier that regular officers will be punished if they are found to be aware of ragging and unauthorised initiation activities, however, did not attempt to stop or report them.

They also stated that some measures would be taken, such as expanding closed circuit television coverage within SCDF premises and installing a metal grating across the opening of pump wells and locked to prevent unauthorised access.

In the court on Wednesday (25 July), Staff Sergeant Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, 33, was charged with one count of causing death by a rash act and one count of abetting the obstruction of justice.

Lieutenant Chong Chee Boon Kenneth, 37, and First Senior Warrant Officer Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 40, were both charged with abetting a rash act causing grievous hurt by illegal omission.

First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, 34, was charged with abetting a rash act causing death.

Staff Sergeant Adighazali Suhaimi, 32, was charged with intentionally obstructing the course of justice.

The penalties for causing death by a rash act are a maximum jail term of five years and a fine.

Causing grievous hurt by a rash act will be granted a maximum jail term of four years and a fine of up to S$10,000.

Meanwhile, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years and fined for obstructing justice.