SCDF ragging death: Officer jailed one month for deleting video of NSF being pushed into pump well

SINGAPORE — The second of five Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers involved in the ragging incident that resulted in the death of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) was sentenced to one month’s jail on Wednesday (Dec 5).

Staff Sergeant Adighazali Suhaimi, 33, a Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Specialist, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by deleting a video of the incident.

The video, taken by Adighazali on his mobile phone despite warnings from his superiors not to do so, showed Corporal Kok Yuen Chin standing at the edge of a pump well. The video clip ended just after he was pushed into it.

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.

Corporal Kok, a Singapore permanent resident from Malaysia, was taken out of the well half an hour after being pushed in by Staff Sergeant Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, following several failed attempts to rescue him.

This is the first death resulting from ragging in the service.

Fatwa, the first to be dealt with, is currently serving his sentence of 12 months and four weeks’ jail.

The three remaining SCDF officers intend to claim trial for their respective charges.

First Senior Warrant Officer Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 40, allegedly aided 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.

Meanwhile, First Warrant Officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, 35, was charged with abetting Fatwa by instigating him to push Corporal Kok into the well.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Wednesday, the court heard that on the evening of the incident, 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) — which was coming up three days later.

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

Together with two other officers, Fatwa carried Corporal Kok, who struggled and protested, out of the watch room and towards the pump well. Subsequently, Adighazali and another SCDF regular officer took over from Fatwa and carried Corporal Kok’s upper body.

The three officers who helped to carry Corporal Kok were among eight officers — six regulars and two NSFs — who were present during the incident, but were not charged in court.

TODAY understands that they were referred by police to the SCDF for departmental investigations.

All the officers had 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 again.

A few minutes later, Fatwa pushed Corporal Kok into the well.

Some of the officers then jumped into the well a few seconds later to try to locate him, to no avail. The NSF was found only 36 minutes later, at 9.43pm.

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 iPhone. 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.

‘A MOMENT OF COWARDICE’

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kumaresan Gohulabalan sought a one-month jail term, arguing that Adighazali’s culpability was similar to Fatwa’s.

Fatwa had pleaded guilty in October to instigating Adighazali to delete the video recording, as well as another charge of causing death by committing a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide.

“They were aware an individual had died… and investigations were commencing. Despite the seriousness of what they heard, they came to an agreement to delete the video,” said DPP Kumaresan.

Adighazali’s lawyer, Mr Ashwin Ganapathy, sought no more than 14 days’ imprisonment. He rebutted that Adighazali’s role was smaller than Fatwa’s, as he did not suggest or plan to delete the video.

“When the unimaginable happened, our client was reduced to a state of panic, guilt and utter worry. Coupled with these feelings and Fatwa’s instigation, our client foolishly deleted the video,” the lawyer added.

District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said that Adighazali’s role was comparable to Fatwa’s, adding: “It was a conscious and deliberate decision (to delete the recording). The mobile phone was his, notwithstanding the suggestion was from someone else. He was acting out of a moment of cowardice.”

For intentionally obstructing the course of justice, Adighazali could have been jailed up to seven years, fined, or both.