SCDF warrant officer found guilty over NSF's drowning

SINGAPORE — A warrant officer from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was on Thursday (31 October) found guilty over a full-time national serviceman’s death arising from a ragging incident.

First warrant officer Mohamed Farid Mohd Saleh, 36, was convicted after a trial of abetting staff sergeant Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, 34, to commit a rash act which caused the death of full-time national serviceman corporal Kok Yuen Chin, 22.

Farid had instigated Fatwa to push Kok into a 12-metre deep pump well at Tuas View Fire Station on 13 May last year.

The warrant officer is the third person to be found guilty over his role in Kok’s death.

Fatwa, who pushed Kok, was jailed last year, having pleaded guilty to committing a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide and abetting staff sergeant Adighazali Suhaimi, 33, in the obstruction of justice by asking him to delete a video recording of the fatal incident.

Adighazali was also jailed last year after he admitted to intentionally obstructing the course of justice by deleting the video recording.

Kok had been pushed into the well as part of a ritual to celebrate his impending Operationally Ready Date (ORD).

The cases for the remaining two officers who had been charged in relation to the incident - lieutenant Kenneth Chong Chee Boon, 38, and first senior warrant officer Nazhan Nazi, 41 - are still at the trial stage.

Chong was the rotation commander in charge of the men, while Nazhan was the deputy rotation commander. SCDF fire stations have three rotation shifts, with personnel in each rotation working for 24 hours.

Farid is expected to be sentenced on 20 November. He faces a maximum penalty of up to five years’ jail, along with a fine.

The ‘kolam’ ORD ritual

At about 8.30pm on 13 May, rotation 3 officers gathered at the watch room on the ground floor of Tuas View Fire Station to celebrate Kok’s impending Operationally Ready Date in three days’ time; 13 May was his last day of duty. The officers presented him with a plaque and a cake.

At about 9.05pm, Fatwa suggested that Kok partake in an ORD ritual of entering the pump well, or “kolam”, despite it being a form of ragging explicitly prohibited in SCDF; there were anti-ragging posters displayed around the fire station.

Other officers then started shouting, “kolam, kolam”, but Kok waved his hands to signal that he did not wish to partake in the ritual and said, “Don’t want, don’t want”.

However, Fatwa lifted Kok by his armpits. Two other officers then lifted Kok’s legs and the trio carried Kok towards the pump well, about 20m away from the watch room. The well was used for training as an open water source for fire engines, and had a depth of about 12m, with an internal diameter of about 1.8m. The water level at the time was about 11m.

Later, Adighazali and another officer took over from Fatwa and carried Kok’s upper body. While struggling as he was being carried to the well, Kok kept saying, “Jangan encik, jangan,” which meant “Don’t encik, don’t”, with encik referring to his superiors.

Everyone went out of the watch room except for rotation commander Chong. He allegedly looked out of the window and saw the group near the pump well. He purportedly shouted at them, “No filming”, before looking away.

Kok was hesitant when told by a sergeant to remove his shirt, belt, boots and personal belongings but eventually complied. Rotation deputy commander Nazhan allegedly told Kok to jump closer to the ledge, and reminded the others not to take any photos or videos. He purportedly left the scene and went to his office.

The group then cheered and egged Kok on as he stood at the edge of the well. He looked worried and hesitated for 12 seconds. Farid told Kok to sit at the edge and he complied. Kok looked scared as he remained seated for 43 seconds.

Farid then told Fatwa to push Kok and he did so forcefully on the back with his right hand. Kok fell straight into the water without surfacing for air. He did not know how to swim.

Shortly after, a few officers including Fatwa jumped into the pitch black well in a bid to find Kok, to no avail. The firefighters then used a fire engine to pump the water out of the pump well.

Kok was found 36 minutes after falling into the well, at 9.43pm. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him, to no avail. The police received a call about the drowning at 10.58pm.

The incident was captured on closed-circuit television cameras in the station.

Adighazali had also recorded part of the incident on his mobile phone, capturing the moment Kok was pushed into the well. At about 11.25pm he told Fatwa about the video. After viewing it, Fatwa told Adighazali, “delete, delete”.

The technology crime forensics branch of the police’s criminal investigation department later recovered the deleted video.

In the wake of the incident, the SCDF said it would decommission pump wells at all fire stations, following the recommendations of a Board of Inquiry, and move all pump training to the Civil Defence Academy.

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