Singapore — Thirty-year-old Ong Lin Jie was convicted on Monday (Nov 22) of a rash act linked to the death of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) Liu Kai three years ago.
Liu Kai, 22, who was later posthumously promoted to Corporal First Class (CFC), was pinned to death in a Land Rover by a Bionix Infantry Fighting Vehicle on Nov 3, 2018.
Ong was found guilty of a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide by failing to keep a safe distance of 30 meters between the Land Rover and the Bionix.
Earlier this year, Ong claimed trial.
On the day of CFC Liu’s demise, Ong had been in the passenger seat of the Land Rover with CFC Liu as his driver.
The full-time national serviceman died when the Bionix reversed into the Land Rover on the driver’s side.
The Bionix reversed into CFC Liu’s vehicle at around 10:10 am. He lost consciousness and succumbed to his injuries, and medical officers pronounced him dead around 10.35 am.
His cause of death was traumatic asphyxia.
At that time, CFC Liu was a transport operator from the SAF’s Transport Hub West and a full-time national serviceman driver.
Capt Ong was his platoon trainer with the Armour Unit Training Centre.
The fatal incident occurred during a three-day exercise near Sungei Gedong Camp, which had been aimed at enhancing Kaffir Company’s operational capabilities.
In the exercise, the Jaguar Company from the 42nd Battalion, Singapore Armoured Regiment, acted as the “opposition force” whose objective was to delay Kaffir Company’s advance.
Capt Ong, as a trainer with the Jaguar Company for the exercise, was in the passenger seat of a Land Rover, with CFC Liu as his driver, so he could monitor the exercise.
The captain was directly responsible for the safety of all the men during the exercise, including CFC Liu.
Moreover, it was his responsibility to ensure that a safe distance was maintained between the two vehicles.
At one point during the exercise, the Land Rover driven by CFC Liu stopped behind one Bionix IFV, BX13, which was around 30 to 31 metres ahead of them.
They did not know why the vehicle had stopped.
Ahead of it was another IFV. The leader of the Jaguar Company opposition force, in BX13, radioed the other IFV, saying, “I see your vehicle, your vehicle is in front of me, correct?”
“I never see you,” was the reply.
There were more IFVs that were spotted by those in BX13 at this point, and they realised that these were from Kaffir Company.
Capt Ong told CFC Liu to overtake BX13 on the left. Because BX13 remained unmoving, the safety distance of 30 metres was breached.
At the same time, those in BX13 were firing rounds at the IFVs in front of them, as part of the exercises.
Then, the driver of BX13 reversed his vehicle.
At the point when CFC Liu realised that rounds were being fired, he stopped the Land Rover around 16 to 18 metres behind BX13.
This is when the IFV ended up mounting the Land Rover and killing CFC Liu.
Ong said at his trial that he told CFC Liu to overtake the Bionix with the Land Rover because he did not want to get in the way of a “firefight” and also became he believed, based on radio communications, that Jaguar Company’s platoon commander had determined that BX13B was at the junction ahead.
According to him, BX13 was responsible for the NSF’s death, because it changed course while reversing.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur noted when handing down her judgment the discrepancies in Ong’s statements concerning the incident.
“With respect to his claim of the ‘gap’ in his memory, (a statement Ong gave) provided details of the events which preceded and followed the overtaking,” CNA quotes the judge as saying.
“He coincidentally lost recollection only of the overtaking. This is inherently implausible and I find his selective amnesia was deliberate.”
She added that the collision between the two vehicles had been “the natural consequence of the lack of safe distance for the Bionix to execute its extrication manoeuvre which was caused by the Land Rover’s failure to adhere to the 30m safety distance” and its failure to communicate its intention to overtake when it was unsafe to do so.
“The duty of ensuring the safety distance and to communicate was the responsibility of the accused,” said Judge Kaur.
She ruled that what Ong did on the day of the incident substantially caused the death of CFC Liu.
Ong will be back in court next month for mitigation and sentencing. He faces up to five years in jail, a fine, or both.
In connection with the events that lead to CFC Lui’s death, three men were fined in December 2019 for leaking pictures of the accident. /TISG
Read also: SAF captain on trial for failing to keep NSF who died in 2018 Bionix accident safe