SCDF ragging death: Ex-station commander says he would have intervened
When asked what he would have done if he had seen Corporal Kok Yuen Chin being carried to the pump well on May 13 last year, former Tuas View Fire Station commander Huang Weikang said he would have put a stop to it.
Similarly, when shown a video of the cake-cutting ceremony that preceded Cpl Kok's death and asked how he would have responded if he had heard the word "kolam" during the celebration, Major Huang, who was not on duty then, said he would have been on the alert.
"There could be a possibility they might do it to Kok," said Maj Huang, who understood "kolam" in the context of ragging to mean that someone would end up in a pump well.
He was testifying yesterday on the fourth day of the trial, in which the Singapore Civil Defence Force officers in charge of Tuas View Fire Station on the night that Cpl Kok, 22, drowned are contesting charges against them.
Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan showed Maj Huang video clips taken from the station's security cameras, where one showed officers carrying the full-time national serviceman towards the well and another showed the group gathered around it.
"With what was said (during the celebration) about the kolam, then carrying Kok towards the pump well... you have to definitely stop it," said the now senior fire investigator who was station commander up till December last year.
He said he would have "put the actions" together and realised it was "likely" that Cpl Kok would end up in the pump well.
When asked how he would have stopped the men, Maj Huang said that as a superior, "your words are command", and he believed the men would have listened to the order.
The two on trial - Kenneth Chong Chee Boon, 38, a lieutenant, and Nazhan Mohamed Nazi, 40, a first senior warrant officer - were rota commander and deputy rota commander, respectively, that night.
On the night of May 13 last year, Cpl Kok was pushed into the pump well as part of activities to mark the completion of his national service, and he then drowned.
Chong and Nazhan were each charged with aiding a rash act that caused grievous hurt by illegal omission. They had allegedly failed to prevent a group of officers from making Cpl Kok enter the pump well, thereby endangering his life.
The trial continues today.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
