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SINGAPORE – Six national servicemen were sentenced by a military court in connection with the death of Corporal First Class (CFC) Dave Lee, and were fined between $ 1,800 and $ 4,500.
In a press release on Thursday (September 24), the Ministry of Defense (Mindef) said the military pleaded guilty upon being indicted on February 20, following the completion of investigations by the Special Investigation Branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).
The sentences for the military are:
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Corporal (NS) Tan Jin Yang was found guilty of two counts of life-threatening negligent acts under Section 41 (b) of the SAF Act. He was fined $ 4,500.
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First Sergeant Chia Zhi Xuan was found guilty of one count of disobedience to general orders under Article 21 of the SAF Law. He was fined $ 2,500.
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CPL (NS) Chng Pheng Heng, CPL (NS) Jonas Ang Kai Jie and CPL (NS) Yep Ren Jie were each convicted of one count of disobedience to general orders under Section 21 of the SAF Act and one count of abuse. authority under Section 29 of the SAF Act. Each was fined $ 2,500 and demoted from the rank of third sergeant (NS) to the rank of corporal (NS).
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Second Sergeant Koh Ren Zhong was found guilty of one count of negligent performance of a legal duty under Section 17 (2) of the SAF Act. He was sentenced to a fine of $ 1,800.
The supervising officer died of cancer
Lee, 19, died two weeks after being admitted to Changi General Hospital from heat stroke. He had completed a fast 8km march in Bedok camp on April 18, 2018 before showing signs of a heat injury and had to be hospitalized.
The fast-march supervising officer, Captain Tan Baoshu, was charged in state courts on October 31, 2018, with causing Lee’s death by reckless act. On January 8 of this year, CPT Tan received a discharge that does not amount to an acquittal, due to his terminal cancer illness. Tan died on February 13.
Mindef said in the press release that, since the 2018 incident, the SAF has made improvements to existing heat injury prevention and management measures.
These include: implementing a simplified evacuation protocol, improving heat injury awareness for commanders and medics, enhancing existing heat and cooling injury prevention measures, and strengthening an open reporting culture.
In the past two years, the SAF has seen a 40 percent decrease in the number of heat injury cases and there have been no heat stroke cases.
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