SAF captain accused of causing NSF’s death is diagnosed with cancer; charge withdrawn

SINGAPORE — A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officer charged with causing the death of full-time national serviceman (NSF) Dave Lee has been granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal after he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Captain Tan Baoshu, 31, had claimed trial to the charge of causing Corporal First Class Lee’s death by a rash act, and dates had been reserved for the trial next week.

But last month, the prosecution applied for the discharge in light of the diagnosis, a spokesperson from the Attorney-General’s Chambers said in response to queries.

On Jan 8, a district judge granted the application. This means that the charge was dropped but can be revived later, such as if new evidence emerges.

Tan was suspended from service pending the outcome of the court proceedings.

Lee succumbed to heat injuries on April 30, 2018, after spending more than a week in intensive care in hospital.

Court documents showed that Tan was Lee’s officer commanding at the support company of the 1st Guards Battalion.

He was also the supervising officer for the 8km fast march, in which Lee was one of the participants, on the morning of April 18, 2018.

After the march, Lee showed signs of heat injury. Between 8.25am and 9.10am that day, Tan had allegedly failed to evacuate Lee in a timely manner, and also disallowed the administration of “necessary treatment” to the NSF, which led to his death from heat stroke, court documents revealed.

After an SAF medic tried to bring down Lee's core temperature, he was taken to Bedok Camp’s medical centre where an SAF medical team continued body cooling measures and treatment.

He was taken to the Changi General Hospital. After more than a week in intensive care, Lee died.

A preliminary assessment from a committee of inquiry convened to look into the training death revealed that there was significant delay in evacuating Lee, as well as inadequate measures given on-site after his fast march, which led to his death from the heat injuries.

On April 17, the day before the march, the conduct of an afternoon training session deviated from the lesson plan, resulting in Lee running faster and having less rest than stipulated.

Lee’s platoon was also mobilised that night for not observing “lights out”, and were punished with physical exercises, among other things, resulting in the soldiers having six hours and 15 minutes of uninterrupted rest instead of the specified seven hours.

The committee of inquiry found that these lapses leading up to the march could have resulted in accumulated fatigue and insufficient rest, which might have contributed to the heat stroke.

Other possible contributory causes were Lee's less-than-optimal state of health, and potential use of medication for an acute upper respiratory tract infection more than two weeks before the incident.

The inquiry, however, found no evidence of foul play. There were also no systemic lapses.