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SINGAPORE: A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) captain in charge of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) who died after being pinned down in a Land Rover by a Bionix vehicle was tested on Thursday (March 18).
Ong Lin Jie, 30, is challenging a charge of committing a reckless act that does not amount to wrongful death by failing to maintain a safe distance of 30 meters between the two vehicles.
He is accused of ordering the 22-year-old victim, who was post-humbly promoted to Corporal First Class (CFC), to overtake the Bionix Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) without first establishing communications with the Bionix and when he was not sure to do it. do it.
The wake of the late NSF Liu Kai, who died in a training incident on November 3 (Photo: Jeremy Long)
As a result, the Bionix, a tracked armored vehicle armed with a cannon or automatic grenade launcher and heavy machine gun, was reversed into the Land Rover, mounted on the driver’s side, and pinned CFC Liu in his seat.
The court heard that CFC Liu was a permanent resident of Singapore and a full-time national military driver, while Ong was a regular officer with the rank of captain and appointed as a platoon trainer at the Armored Unit Training Center.
On November 2, 2018, the center conducted a three-day exercise near Camp Sungei Gedong in which Kaffir Company and Jaguar Company of 42nd Battalion, Singapore Armored Regiment participated.
The exercise was intended to train the Kaffir Company’s operational capabilities, and the company was tasked with moving toward and securing a goal known as the Murai Urban Training Facility.
The Jaguar Company platoon acted as the “opposing force” for the exercise, and was to delay Kaffir Company’s advance with a series of “delay lines” and simulated firefights.
Ong was attached to the exercise and assigned to the opposition force as a coach, tasked with observing performance and providing feedback to exercise participants under his charge, including CFC Liu.
To move around the training area, Ong was assigned a Land Rover, and CFC Liu was the driver, while Ong was the commander of the vehicle. They were the only two in the vehicle during the exercise and Ong was responsible for CFC Liu’s safety, including ensuring and maintaining a safe distance of 30m between the vehicle and any IFV Bionix.
All participants of the exercise were briefed before the three opposition forces Bionix IFV took their positions along the first delay line around 7 a.m. on November 3, 2018.
After a simulated firefight just before 10 am, one of the IFV Bionix was “destroyed”, leaving only two IFV Bionix for the “enemy” force.
THE BIONIX STOPPED IN FRONT OF THEM
One of these vehicles, labeled BX13, was traveling towards a junction along the opposing force’s next delay line when its crew spotted another Bionix IFV at a junction ahead and stopped.
Ong and CFC Liu stopped their Land Rover behind BX13 at a distance of 30 to 31 m, and Ong did not know why BX13 had stopped before the crossing, according to the statement of fact agreed upon by both the prosecution and the defense.
The opposition force leader, who was in BX13, contacted the Bionix IFV earlier to confirm if it was a friendly element.
He radioed: “I see your vehicle, your vehicle is in front of me, correct?”
He received an answer: “I never see you.”
READ: Death of NSF Liu Kai: Land Rover-ridden Bionix was reversing itself from ‘simulated enemy fire’
At around this time, the BX13 crew saw more IFV Bionix at the same junction ahead, crossing from left to right, and the leader of the opposing force realized that the vehicles in front of them were from the Kaffir Company.
After this radio exchange, Ong ordered CFC Liu to pass BX13 on his left. He drove the Land Rover forward, which meant that the required safety distance of at least 30m between the Land Rover and the BX13 no longer existed.
File photo of a Bionix vehicle.
BIONIX INVESTED LAND ROVER AFTER “SHOOTING” ROUNDS TO “ENEMY”
Meanwhile, the BX13 crew began “firing” rounds at the Bionix IFVs in front of them when they realized they belonged to Kaffir Company forces. As part of the drill on such engagements, the driver of the BX13 was ordered to reverse his Bionix IFV, and he did so.
When CFC Liu heard the three shots from BX13, he stopped the Land Rover in the middle of an overtaking and was about 16 to 18 meters from BX13.
The Bionix IFV rode the driver’s side of the Land Rover while reversing, pinning CFC Liu in his seat. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:35 a.m., with an autopsy certifying the cause of death as traumatic asphyxia.
In his opening speech, Deputy Prosecutors Hay Hung Chun, Zhou Yihong, Angela Ang and Benedict Chan accused Ong of ensuring the safety of CFC Liu as the commander of the vehicle, but “did not fulfill this basic obligation.”
There was an “obvious risk” that the Bionix IFV up front would engage in a firefight and consequently run a rescue drill, and ordering CFC Liu to pass was to place the Land Rover in dangerous proximity to the Bionix IFV.
“It was this hasty decision that led to the collision between the Bionix IFV and the Land Rover, and the untimely death of the deceased,” they said.
Ong, who has been suspended, is defended by attorney Teo Choo Kee. The trial continues before District Judge Jasvender Kaur.
If convicted of a reckless act that does not amount to wrongful death, Ong can be jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.
Others have been taken to court over the incident, with three men fined in December 2019 for violating the Official Secrets Act for leaked photos of the accident.
