SCDF ragging death: Officer jailed more than a year for pushing NSF into pump well

SINGAPORE — A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer who pushed a full-time national serviceman (NSF) into a pump well, where he later drowned, was sentenced to 12 months and four weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Oct 23).

Staff Sergeant Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, 34, a Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Specialist, is the first of five SCDF personnel to be dealt with in court, having been accused of playing a part in Corporal Kok Yuen Chin’s death.

In a ragging incident-turned-tragedy, Corporal Kok, 22, was found unconscious at the bottom of the 12m-deep well — which contained 11m of water — in Tuas View Fire Station on May 13 this year.

The Singapore permanent resident from Malaysia was taken out of the well 36 minutes after being pushed in by Fatwa, following several failed attempts to rescue him. This is the first death resulting from ragging in the service.

Fatwa pleaded guilty to one charge of causing death by committing a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide, and a second charge of instigating Staff Sergeant Adighazali Suhaimi to delete a video recording of Corporal Kok being pushed into the well.

Adighazali, 33, faces one charge of obstructing the course of justice by deleting that video about three hours after the incident.

After the hearing on Tuesday, one of Corporal Kok’s aunts, Madam Helen Kok, confronted Fatwa outside the courtroom. The 55-year-old told reporters that he apologised to her after she asked him, “You play these kinds of games, you never think?”

Corporal Kok’s father, Mr Kok Meng Hua, 56, told reporters in Mandarin: “My son is not here anymore... No matter what the jail term is, he’s not coming back.”

Mr Kok, who works in Singapore as a construction worker, added: “He was playing with his friends; he was happy. If it was an accident, he wouldn’t have wanted his family to be sad or his friend to be jailed very long. Now I can’t ask him what happened then.”

The other four SCDF officers who have been prosecuted will return to court on Nov 12.

First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, 34, was charged with abetting Fatwa by instigating him to push Corporal Kok into the well.

First Senior Warrant Officer Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 40, intends to claim trial to his charge of abetting intentionally by aiding a group of servicemen to cause grievous hurt. He is the deputy commander of Rota 3 — Corporal Kok’s team — at Tuas View Fire Station.

Lieutenant Chong Chee Boon Kenneth, 38, who is the Rota 3 commander, faces a similar charge as Nazhan.

GIFT AND CAKE BEFORE THE RAGGING

The court heard that on the day of the incident, at about 8.30pm, a group of Rota 3 officers gathered at the watch room of the fire station to celebrate Corporal Kok’s last duty tour before completing his National Service (NS) stint — also known as the Operationally Ready Date (ORD) — in three days’ time. They presented him with a plaque and cake.

At the time, besides the five officers who have been charged in court, there were eight other officers there as well: Six regular officers and two NSFs, aged between 22 and 36 years old.

The entire incident was captured on closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) within the fire station.

At about 9pm, Fatwa suggested that Corporal Kok partake in an ORD ragging ritual of entering the pump well, known as “kolam” (Malay for “pool”).

This ritual is prohibited in the SCDF; at the time, there were anti-ragging posters displayed around the fire station.

Other officers in the watch room then began shouting “kolam, kolam”. When Corporal Kok waved his hands to signal that he did not wish to do it, and said, “Don’t want, don’t want”, Fatwa lifted him by his armpits.

STRUGGLED WHEN CARRIED TO WELL

Along with two other officers, Fatwa carried Corporal Kok out towards the well. The NSF struggled and kept saying “Jangan, Encik, jangan” (“Don’t, Sir, don’t” in Malay).

All of the officers gathered around the well except for Rota 3 commander Chong, who remained in the watch room. When he noticed the officers there, he opened the window and shouted at them: “No filming”.

Some of the officers raised their hands to show they were not holding a mobile phone and shouted back. Chong then closed the window and did not look in their direction anymore.

One officer told Corporal Kok to remove his outer shirt, belt, boots, mobile phone and wallet, though he was hesitant at first to do so.

Nazhan then told him to jump closer to the ledge of the well, and told the others not to take photographs or videos of the incident, before he went back to his office.

Corporal Kok went to stand at the edge of the well as some of the officers, including Fatwa, cheered and egged him on.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kumaresan Gohulabalan told the court: “The deceased looked worried and hesitated for about 12 seconds before Farid told him to sit down at the edge of the pump well… While he was seated at the edge... (he) looked scared. He made no attempt to enter the well and remained seated for about 43 seconds.”

At that point, Farid commented that things were proceeding slowly, and told Fatwa to push Corporal Kok into the well. Fatwa then pushed the NSF forcefully on his back with his right hand, causing him to fall into the well.

DPP Kumaresan noted that Corporal Kok did not know how to swim and “the accused did not know whether the deceased could swim”.

DIFFICULT TO FIND HIM IN WELL

Eight seconds after Corporal Kok was pushed into the well, a few of the officers, including Fatwa, jumped in to try to locate him, to no avail.

The servicemen then used a fire-engine suction pump to pump water out of the well, and those jumping in used breathing apparatus in order to dive deeper into the well.

When the water was sufficiently pumped out, one of the officers managed to locate Corporal Kok. He was removed at about 9.45pm, more than half an hour after he was pushed in.

Paramedics tried in vain to resuscitate Corporal Kok. He was taken to the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital at around 10.15pm, and pronounced dead at about 11pm. An autopsy showed the cause of his death to be drowning.

At about 11.25pm, while at the locker room of the fire station waiting for the police to arrive, Adighazali told Fatwa he had filmed part of the incident with his mobile phone, starting from Corporal Kok standing at the edge of the well, to just after Fatwa pushed him in.

Fatwa repeatedly told him to delete the video, which he did.

The video was later recovered from Adighazali’s phone the next day by forensic investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department.

‘TRAGIC AND SENSELESS’

On Tuesday, seeking at least 14 months’ imprisonment, DPP Kumaresan said that Fatwa was the main instigator of the “senseless prank”, as he had suggested the ritual and carried Corporal Kok out to the well.

“(Fatwa) was of a much higher rank and seniority… This is of heightened significance here, as Corporal Kok was an NSF in a regimented hierarchical system and would understandably have felt pressurised with superiors, including (Fatwa), egging him on to enter the pump well.

“Parents entrust the lives of their children to senior officers such as (Fatwa) in NS. Instead of watching out for Corporal Kok who was one of the most junior officers in the team, Fatwa caused Corporal Kok’s untimely demise,” he added.

He noted that Corporal Kok did not die in the line of duty, and that Fatwa had “prioritised his self-preservation” by getting Adighazali to delete the video.

Fatwa’s lawyer, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, asked for less than eight months’ jail for his client. He argued that Fatwa merely did not want the video to be spread, and knew that there was a CCTV recording of the incident.

“He came from a point of good intention. He’s not evil; he will face punishment for that,” Mr Sunil said. “This is a good guy who made a momentary mistake. He agreed he should have known better — a life was senselessly lost. No one wanted this to happen.”

Fatwa will begin serving his jail sentence on Wednesday.

For committing a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide, he could have faced a jail term of up to five years, a fine, or both. For abetting the obstruction of the course of justice, he could have been jailed up to seven years, fined, or both.

PUMP WELLS AT SCDF

• Pump wells are reservoirs of water used by fire station personnel for training and for testing the pumps of fire engines.

• After Corporal Kok’s death, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam convened a board of inquiry to look into the circumstances of his death.

• In September, the SCDF announced that following the board’s recommendations, all 19 pump wells located at fire stations will be decommissioned by the end of the year to remove the risk of unauthorised access.

• The decommissioned wells will be filled up with granite chips and covered with concrete slabs.