Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

SCDF ragging death: Officer found guilty of telling colleague to push NSF into pump well

SINGAPORE — A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer on Thursday (Oct 31) became the third man to be convicted over the high-profile death of a full-time national serviceman last year.

First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, one of the five SCDF officers charged over the ragging incident that led to the death of NSF Kok Yuen Chin.

First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, one of the five SCDF officers charged over the ragging incident that led to the death of NSF Kok Yuen Chin.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer on Thursday (Oct 31) became the third man to be convicted over the high-profile death of a full-time national serviceman last year.

First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, 36, was found guilty of instigating his colleague, Staff Sergeant Nur Fatwa Mahmood, to commit a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide.

Farid will return to court on Nov 20 to be sentenced, and remains out on bail.

Fatwa, who had pushed Corporal Kok Yuen Chin into a pump well at Tuas View Fire Station, argued in court that he had done so because Farid had told him to.

During his trial, Farid repeatedly denied this. Both officers have been suspended without pay from the service since May 17 last year — four days after the fatal incident. 

Fatwa testified that Farid had told him: “Wa, tolak dia” before he pushed Kok in, and that he had felt betrayed when they argued over this during a police interview and a talk with their fire station commander, Major Huang Weikang, right after the incident.

The Malay phrase translates to “push him”, with “Wa” being a short form of Fatwa’s name.

Farid said that he was shocked upon hearing Fatwa’s accusation, claiming that he did not literally ask him to push Kok.

Kok, 22, ended up drowning that evening on May 13 last year, three days before he would finish serving his National Service in the SCDF. Another officer testified in a separate trial involving Kok’s commanders that his last words were “Cannot, Encik” (“Cannot, Sir”).

The Singapore permanent resident from Malaysia, who did not know how to swim, was taken out of the well half an hour later, following several failed attempts to rescue him. The 12m-deep well was filled with 11m of water.

It was the first death resulting from ragging in the service.

UNIMPRESSED BY ATTEMPTS TO DOWNPLAY INVOLVEMENT: JUDGE

In convicting Farid on Thursday, Second Principal District Judge Victor Yeo said that he accepted Fatwa’s evidence over Farid’s and that he found no reason for the former to “falsely implicate” his good friend.

While the judge found Fatwa to be a credible and truthful witness who “candidly admitted to his involvement” in the ragging and that “his testimony contained a ring of truth”, he said that he was “not entirely convinced” by Farid’s explanations.

Farid’s reaction of shock and merely looking down and shaking his head in disbelief when Fatwa accused him of telling him to push Kok was “more consistent with guilt”, the judge said.

“He was shocked that his good friend had spoken the truth and implicated him… I was unimpressed by his attempts to downplay his involvement in the whole episode, and minimise his role to one of a mere spectator which is not borne out by evidence,” District Judge Yeo told the court.

Fatwa’s testimony was consistent with video footage shown during the trial, which showed Farid walking from the flagpole, past Fatwa and turning towards him, the judge added.

As to the defence’s arguments that Fatwa did not want to shoulder full responsibility for what happened, District Judge Yeo said he did not think Fatwa would “go to this extent to fabricate evidence against his good friend and colleague”.

“Instead, I was persuaded by Fatwa’s honest answer that there is no reason for him to lie about this and that he spoke the truth only because he wanted those responsible to take responsibility as he himself had done,” the judge added.

While no one else had heard Farid telling Fatwa to push Kok, it was “not unexpected”, given the rowdy atmosphere, and it did not mean Fatwa was lying.

WHAT HAPPENED

Five SCDF officers were charged for their involvement in Kok’s death. 

Apart from Fatwa, 34, and Farid, the others were First Senior Warrant Officer Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 41, Lieutenant Chong Chee Boon Kenneth, 38, and Staff Sergeant Adighazali Suhaimi, 32.

Fatwa pleaded guilty to pushing Kok into the well and instigating Adighazali to delete a video of it. He has served one year and one month of jail time, partly in home detention.

Adighazali served one month after pleading guilty to deleting the video.

Chong and Nazhan, the commanders of Kok’s team at the fire station, claimed trial to their charges of aiding a group of servicemen to cause grievous hurt. Their trial continues in December.

Kok and his colleagues were in the watch room that fateful evening, celebrating his impending Operationally Ready Date with a cake and plaque presentation.

Some officers in the room started shouting "kolam, kolam", referring to the well or the ritual of entering the well. Some of them then carried Kok out to the well, including Fatwa.

Related topics

SCDF ragging court

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.