Dumped worker 'could have survived injuries'

Dumped worker 'could have survived injuries'

MYANMAR - A Myanmar foreign worker was moonlighting for a painting subcontractor at VivoCity last October when he fell from a height of about 12m.

Instead of taking Mr Myo Min Aung to the doctor, his employers drove him around for more than 30 minutes before dumping him on a pavement along Upper Circular Road.

He was found there in the early hours of Oct 7 last year. It was his 28th birthday.

He was dead by then.

At his inquest yesterday, the court heard his blood alcohol level was high enough to have impaired his judgment and movement.

In his investigation report, Inspector Andrew Wang Ding Xiang from the Clementi Police Division said Mr Aung, employed by LTC Coatings since 2008, had moonlighted on four occasions for Mr Muhammad Hidayat Abdul Rahman, 39, a site manager for Height Service Magnanimity.

The company had been engaged to repaint the mall in Telok Blangah Road and Mr Aung was preparing to start painting when he lost his balance and fell from the edge of a link bridge roof some time past 11pm on Oct 6.

No one saw how he fell, but Mr Hidayat and his elder brother, Azhar, 43, who worked in the same company as a safety supervisor, placed the unconscious Myanmar worker in Mr Hidayat's car.

Mr Hidayat drove to various places, including Robinson Road and near Singapore General Hospital, before he parked inn Upper Circular Road at about 12.30am on Oct 7.

Closed-circuit television footage from the popular Songfa Bak Kut Teh restaurant nearby showed two men carrying and placing a human body on the pavement. Mr Hidayat then drove away while Azhar remained at the scene for a while before walking away. He called 995 at 1.27am.

The paramedic found Mr Aung, who was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, with blood stains on his left arm. There were abrasions on his forehead, white paint on his hands and a bone on his right arm was out of place.

When Azhar was called back to the scene, he denied knowing the dead man and claimed he had made the call when he saw him lying on the pavement.

But the police managed to obtain Mr Hidayat's identity and impounded the car.

Two dried blood stains were found on the left passenger seat in the back and on the seat belt of the Toyota Vios.

Azhar is currently serving a jail sentence for drug consumption.

In reply to a question by State Counsel Stella Tan Wei Ling, the Health Sciences Authority's Dr Chan Shi Jia, who performed the post-mortem, said there was a chance Mr Aung could have survived had he received early medical attention.

Investigation into the case is still ongoing.

State Coroner Imran Abdul Hamid found that Mr Aung's death was due to a combination of injuries from the accidental fall and the employers' deliberate action in not rendering timely medical treatment.

This article was published on April 17 in The Straits Times.

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