SCDF ragging incident death: 2 commanders of fire station contest charges

SINGAPORE - Two Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers allegedly involved in a ragging incident which left a full-time national serviceman dead are contesting the charges against them.

In the incident on May 13 last year, 22-year-old Corporal Kok Yuen Chin drowned when he was thrown into a pump well at Tuas View Fire Station during a celebration to mark the completion of his national service.

The two officers, Kenneth Chong Chee Boon, 38, a lieutenant, and Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 40, a first senior warrant officer, were commander and deputy commander, respectively, of the station that night.

The two men were in court on Monday (June 10) for their trial, which is expected to last two weeks.

Among the witnesses that the prosecution will be calling to the stand will be other SCDF officers who were on duty at the station that night.

The regulars were each charged in July last year with aiding a rash act by illegal omission that caused grievous hurt. The duo had allegedly failed to prevent a group of servicemen from pressuring Cpl Kok to enter the pump well, thereby endangering his life.

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Three other regulars were also charged for their involvement, and two have been dealt with in court since then.

Cpl Kok, a Malaysian national and Singapore permanent resident, was pushed into the well while celebrating his impending operationally ready date (ORD) with his squad mates.

When he did not surface, his colleagues drained the well. It took 36 minutes before they were able to pull him out, but he had drowned.

In October last year, SCDF regular Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, was sentenced to one year and four weeks' jail for causing death by rash act.

The staff sergeant admitted to pushing Cpl Kok into the pump well, which resulted in his drowning, and also abetting the obstruction of justice when he told another officer to delete a video recording of the incident.

Adighazali Suhaimi, 33, a staff sergeant, was sentenced to one month's jail for last December for deleting the video footage of Cpl Kok being pushed into the pump well.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.