Singapore Civil Defence Force Lieutenant Kenneth Chong Chee Boon, 40, and First Senior Warrant Officer Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 43, had been convicted after trial for committing a negligent act endangering human life. Their offences caused the death of 22-year-old Corporal Kok Yuen Chin.
Both were then jailed 10 weeks, with Nazhan appealing against his conviction and sentence. Chong did not appeal and has since served his jail stint. The prosecution also appealed against the lower court's decision. "It is extremely disquieting that there are commanders who condone ragging as horseplay as boys will be boys and will have high-spirited moments of jocularity."The sentences I impose will be substantial to drive home the message that no place for ragging in NS and any other institutional context for that matter. Prohibitions against ragging must be enforced and NS commanders must take responsibility to stamp out ragging seriously.
In mitigation, Chong's lawyer, Wee Pan Lee, asked for the same 10 weeks' jail sentence as the trial judge had imposed on Chong in the lower court. Wee then asked Justice See to order that his sentence has been served. In the event that Justice See passed a longer sentence, Wee asked that the first 10 weeks of the sentenced to be ordered to have been served.
Nazhan's lawyer Singa Retnam asked the court to consider that Nazhan was not even present when Kok was pushed in the well, that there was no consensus amongst the servicemen to push Kok into the well, and that Nazhan himself had no intention for the offence to be committed.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.