A 28-year-old Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officer was charged for doing a rash act causing death not amounting to culpable homicide. He was charged on Friday for causing the death of SAF full-time national serviceman, Corporal First Class (CFC) Liu Kai, in November 2018.
As per the court documents, during a SAF training exercise which took place on November 3 at Murai Urban Training Facility last year the accused Captain Ong Lin Jie was the vehicle commander of the Land Rover and CFC Liu was the driver.
It was further mentioned that Ong failed to keep a safety distance of 30 metres between the Land Rover and a SAF Bionix Infantry Fight Vehicle. Despite repeated commands by the rear guide to stop the vehicle, the Bionix was reversed and mounted the driver's side of the Land Rover that caused severe injuries to CFC Liu.
The deceased, Lui was a transport operator from the SAF Transport Hub West. After he lost consciousness, immediately paramedics diagnosed him. But he could not survive the injuries and the post-mortem report revealed that the cause of death was traumatic asphyxia.
It should be noted that there are five other individuals who faced charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for circulating the pictures of the tragic accident.
The 22-year-old Muhammad Arif Azman was serving his national service with the Singapore Civil Defence Force. On Friday, he was charged in court for taking two images of the accident and sending all the photographs to 23 individuals in a Whatsapp group chat. Even after orders from Jurong Fire Station commander, Captain Dinesh Verlachamy, the accused did not delete those photographs from his mobile.
The other accused, 21-year-old Brandon Tan Jien Jet was charged in court for sharing two images of the same accident to six other individuals in a Whatsapp group. Another man, Thng Yu Xuan, 21, was also charged for sending four photos to five other individuals in a different WhatsApp group.
Two more offenders Mohamad Haikal Mohamad Zainal Abiddin and Muhammad Zaki Haji Mokhtar are yet to face charges in court.
However, Ong will return to court on November 21, while Haikal will attend the court hearing on November 22. If the court finds Ong guilty, he may face imprisonment of up to five years, or a fine, or both.
The other four offenders in this case intended to plead guilty on December 2. They may face a jail term of up to two years, and a maximum fine of $2,000, if found guilty.
