CJ Yong ups Pandiaraj & Balakrishnan sentence

last SG · 2005-07-08T01:08:56+00:00

I get what you mean..but if we were to explore the reasons behind the political failure here..you and I would drift too close to the OSA if you get my drift....

iveco SG

Two commandos, who appealed against their court sentence for causing the death of 19-year-old national serviceman Second Sergeant Hu En Huai during a dunking exercise, have had their jail terms increased instead.

Chief Justice Yong Pung How on Thursday also dismissed the appeals of Captain M Pandiaraj and Warrant Officer S Balakrishnan.

Captain Pandiaraj had been sentenced to a jail term of three months each on two charges.

One was with abetting Mr Hu's death, by instigating the instructors to carry out the training.

The other was with causing grievous hurt to Captain Ho Wan Huo, who underwent the same training.

The Chief Justice raised his jail term to 12 months for each charge.

The sentences were to run concurrently, which means he would have to serve 12 months in prison.

Warrant Officer Balakrishnan, who was originally jailed two months for each of the two charges against him, had his sentence increased to six months per charge.

The sentences were also to run concurrently.

This means he will have to serve only six months in jail.

During the appeal hearing, Chief Justice Yong said the accused persons were a disgrace to any army, much less the Singapore army.

When Sergeant Hu was dunked, he said they stood by and did nothing and were enjoying it.

Chief Justice Yong described their acts as absolutely brutish and sadistic. - CNA /ch

Note the CJ's comments at the end.

chikopek SG

they deserved it Evil or Very Mad

DriftingGuy SG

Thanks iveco for the news.. what do u mean by CJ comments at the end? What about it?

Gedanken SG

We've been through this issue ad nausuem, so I'll leave it at saying that there's so much about this case that is not public knowledge that a black-and-white conclusion like above is unwise.

As another point for consideration, CJ Yong has a known habit of turning down appeals and increasing sentences instead, so this isn't any surprise. Besides, how would you trust the judgement of a CJ who's had complaints of excessive harshness and improper procedure filed against him by the Public PROSECUTOR (not the defence lawyers, mind you!)? Who's brutish and sadistic, I ask you?

As for the CJ's comments, you'd think that he'd have the brains to reserve such crap for the guys who physically carried out the dunking.

LazerLordz SG

Well, I guess he was reserving his comments for those people, which he sees as the culprits, which most laymen are told to think too.

Gedanken SG

Well, Lordz, you’ve seen all of the debates we’ve had about this topic. There are so many holes in this case that any reasonable person would have to ask what’s really going on here.

bismarck SG

either way i still think those trainers shld just DIE

iveco SG

If Enhuai's father put a bullet in the head of each of the 4 instructors, I don't think he has committed any sin. The quartet have their hands dripping with innocent blood, after all.

Gedanken SG

Are you a personal friend of the deceased? What's with the first-name basis reference?

Sure shoot them - while you're at it, why not shoot the MO who approved a PES B man for a PES A course, or the safety officer who was AWOL that night, or every man involved in the course over the years who did nothing to stop this practice (trainees included) or our dear RADM Teo for letting such a thing happen on his watch? Hey, all their hands are "dripping with innocent blood" (an overly dramatic statement), right?

Ridiculous.

NathanG5 SG

well said my fren...well said..

lwflee SG

I think this CJ is unfit to be a judge, much less a CJ. Appealing against a sentence should be a right and by upping the sentences seemingly flippantly, he is in effect denying the right of appeal.

I have never had high regard for Yong, and this incident just reinforcoes my contempt for him.

dragg SG

i find it funny too.

its like warning people against appealing.

what is the point then? maybe as well remove it from out system.

TIB1133B SG

Admiral Teo only took over in late 2002 before the RSS Courageous incident and he had so much $hit to mop up in his 1st year in office. Sad

Anyway, those dangerous practices had already been around during the Tony Tan era, so why isn't Dr Tan at fault? Rolling Eyes

Gedanken SG

Pandiaraj only took over in one course before the drowning incident and he had so much $hit to mop up in his first few weeks in the role.

So what's your point?

LazerLordz SG

Ged, the main culprit here is the establishment.The establishment never put forth their clearest story,and so the consequences still ring forth.

There is a lesson to be learnt here, but I'm afraid CJ and the establishment have not learnt it yet. Rolling Eyes

Gedanken SG

Sheesh, this can't get any dumber, Lordz. Teo was around a helluva lot longer than Pandiaraj, but of course the worker bees must be sacrificed so that the Minister can have the nice warm feeling of his arse being covered.

It's funny that our friend should mention Tony Tan. The good doctor was an experienced enough politician to understand that an army can't operate with the public interfering, and would have sidestepped the issue by saying something along the lines of, "We'll look into this". His buffoon of a successor had to kickover a hornet's nest by saying, "We'll get to the bottom of this".

Let's face it, guys - thanks to crap like this, all army standards are going to hell in a handbasket, and although I can't give details (OSA), the drop has already started creating problems resulting in at least one new death that I know of.

LazerLordz SG

Well, shouldn't a more safety conscious SAF have less deaths?Unless of course their training accidents are a result of lack of experienced instructors and not enhanced safety coverage.

And this trend is disturbing. Rolling Eyes

PatrickLTH SG

[quote]Originally posted by lwflee:
I think this CJ is unfit to be a judge, much less a CJ. Appealing against a sentence should be a right and by upping the sentences seemingly flippantly, he is in effect denying the right of appeal.

I have never had high regard for Yong, and this incident just reinforcoes my contempt for him.[/quote)

I beg to disagree with you on this point that CJ is unfit to be a judge, much less a CJ.

Remember, appealing against a sentence is a right of an accused.

Similarly it is the prerogative of the CJ to take into consideration of the various aspects of the case, review the grounds considered by the judge, reduce or up the sentence, or send it back to the trial judge (for retrial?).

Yes, CJ hands are tied to a certain extend. They are things he can do and take into consideration and not the others.

By Law, he cannot go and dig into why the establishment is not punished?, why not put blame on Dr Tony Tan? as these are not brought up in the trial proper. Dont ask me why. I am not a lawyer.

I had high regard for CJ Yong. In this case, a precious life is lost. The parents lost a very promising son. The sentence melt out by CJ reflect a lot of our sentiment with regard punishment to the immediate offenders.

Yes, we (including the parents) may not be happy with the establishment (we feel is the main culprit) but it is a different issue. It has to be taken at another level / another forum. We may not know but I believe a lot of changes had already taken place and more changes may be in line.

Gedanken SG

Well, Lordz, it comes down to this. Sure, you can be more safety-conscious, but ultimately any combat vocation is a dangerous job. If you are more safety conscious (to prevent any accusations of tekaning) at one stage, say selection of a soldier for a role, you may end up subjecting that soldier to later training that he is unable to handle, making it more dangerous.

LazerLordz SG

Therefore the QC/QA process is still very much flawed.So much for the local mentality of treating one symptom and not the whole body as a whole.