Two soldiers fined for their roles in death of actor Aloysius Pang
They pleaded guilty to failing to ensure actor Aloysius Pang was in safe position, among other charges
Two soldiers were sentenced for their roles in the incident leading to the death of actor Aloysius Pang after they pleaded guilty in a military court yesterday.
Military Expert 2 Ivan Teo Gee Siang was fined $7,000. Third Sergeant (NS) Hubert Wah Yun Teng was fined $8,000 and demoted to Corporal.
In January, Corporal First Class (NS) Pang, 28, was seriously injured during a live-firing exercise in New Zealand, after getting trapped between the back of the gun barrel and the interior of the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer cabin. He died four days later on Jan 23.
The court heard the two men had, among other things, failed to ensure Cpl Pang was in a safe position during the movement of the artillery gun's barrel.
They were in the cabin with Cpl Pang, an armament technician.
Yesterday, the two uniform-clad servicemen displayed no emotions when they had their charges read to them at the Singapore Armed Forces Court Martial Centre at Kranji Camp II.
Teo faced three charges: one charge of disobedience of general orders under the SAF Act and two charges of negligent acts that endanger life under the SAF Act.
Teo, 35, was charged with disobedience of general orders for starting maintenance works on a part of the Howitzer gun when the barrel was not in a "standby" position and with the Howitzer's master switch still on.
CONTRAVENED
This contravened standard operating procedures - "a lawful provision of a general order which he was reasonably expected to know", said court documents.
His charge of negligence was for failing to alert Wah that Cpl Pang was in the path of the moving gun barrel and for failing to ensure that he moved to a safe position when it was lowered.
Teo's third charge was for failing to activate the emergency stop button before the barrel's rear hit Cpl Pang.
Wah, an operationally-ready national serviceman (NSman) gun commander, faced two charges.
The first was for causing death by a negligent act under the Penal Code, as he had "caused the death of (Cpl Pang) by doing a negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide" for failing to ensure Pang was not in the path of the gun barrel before he lowered it.
Wah, 31, was also charged with a negligent act endangering life under the SAF Act. This was for failing to activate the emergency stop button before the gun barrel hit Cpl Pang.
If they do not pay their fines, Teo and Wah face 35 and 40 days of detention respectively.
Yesterday's court martial panel comprised the judge, Lieutenant-Colonel (NS) Shawn Ho Hsi Ming, a serving state court judge, and panel members, Major Quak Lin Hian and Major Ong Zi Jun.
In delivering his judgement, LTC (NS) Ho said Wah was the more culpable of the two, and this was reflected in the respective sentences.
He added: "This is a sad case with the loss of a life.
"It is a grim reminder that training safety is of first importance."
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