Hey, littlespotz - appreciate the enthusiasm but don't mock the
legal proceedings itself, okay? If they hit you with contempt of
court, you won't be able to plead ignorance or allude to what's
seemingly "novelty" behavior to you.
This is not Justice Bao, full of melodrama & stuff. Having
attended Abbas Saad's trial, I'll even say the verbal parts are
pretty business-like, fairly brief & generally boring. But
there's also a lot of underlying paperwork & legal discussions
which the public gallery won't be witness to.
The issue over a non-present safety officer, plus who's the
appointed supervising officer itself, was covered in court earlier
this month. Pandiaraj will have his say when he's called to the
dock, but to refresh:
OCT 8, 2004 ST
Witness denies being appointed safety officer
NO SAFETY officer was appointed for the prisoner-of-war training
conducted on Aug 21 last year, said Lieutenant Shashi Kumar
Nagapah, a commando officer who had helped in the dunking of the
trainees.
He denied in court yesterday that he was assigned to be the safety
officer for the first three days of the course - Aug 18 to 20 -
despite another officer's testimony that he had been.
The court had heard earlier in the trial that a safety officer was
to be assigned to the course. This officer is not to be involved in
the training. His responsibility is to stop the course once safety
regulations are breached.
In court yesterday, Lt Shashi Kumar said he had helped restrain
trainees by straddling their bodies in the tub, a technique he said
he learnt from watching other instructors.
In the middle of that day's training, the supervising officer,
Captain Pandiaraj Mayandi, one of the accused, halted the course
and said that he was going to the medical centre.
'While I was at the medical centre, I saw so many trainees there,'
said Lt Shashi Kumar.
While at the medical centre, Pandiaraj asked him if he was the
safety officer and when he said he was not, the captain asked
Lieutenant Divanandhari Ambat Chandrasekharan, another of the
accused, the same question. Divanandhari replied that he was
not.
Lt Sashi Kumar said that Pandiaraj then told Divanandhari to assume
the role first, and that things would be settled later. 'It only
occurred to me then that there were no safety officers appointed
throughout this course,' he said.
Mr Selva Naidu, Pandiaraj's lawyer, pointed out that Lieutenant Yap
Kwong Weng, the original supervising officer, testified on
Wednesday that he had assigned Lt Shashi Kumar as safety officer
for the first three days.
He replied: 'I was not deployed as safety officer by anyone.'
OCT 7, 2004
Course papers changed: witness
`Names of attending officers changed after Hu died`
By Khushwant Singh
A DISTRICT court heard yesterday that although the course documents
listed Lieutenant Yap Kwong Weng as the supervising officer,
Captain Pandiaraj Mayandi (pictured), 33, had put his name down in
that appointment hours after a trainee died.
Lt Yap testified that he had been the initial supervising officer
of the combat survival training course on Pulau Tekong in which
Second Sergeant Hu Enhuai, 19, died after being dunked.
But on Aug 21 last year, the day of 2nd Sgt Hu`s death, Lt Yap
attended a full-day Work Improvement Teams (Wits) session in HDB
Hub in Toa Payoh Central and Capt Pandiaraj assumed the role of
supervising officer.
Lt Yap told the district court that he had gone home at 5.30pm
after the Wits session and Capt Pandiaraj had called after 7pm to
ask him to return to camp.
While driving to his camp in Changi, Capt Pandiaraj called again to
say a trainee had died and new administration instructions had to
be printed out. The supervising officer was changed from Lt Yap to
Capt Pandiaraj, the safety officer was changed to Lieutenant
Divanandhari Ambat Chandrasekharan, and the administration
specialist changed to Staff Sgt Tan Tian Huat.
Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher de Souza why the
changes were made, Lt Yap said: Because Capt Pandiaraj was
supervising officer on the ground that day, and secondly, the
supervising officer had the authority to dictate the appointment
holders. Lt Yap also told the court that he had helped Warrant
Officer S Balakrishnan, 45, the course commander, in preparing the
paperwork.
Warrant Officer Bala is a very experienced soldier who does not
have a good knowledge of computer skills so therefore I assisted
him to prepare most of the administration papers.
Later, another witness, Lt Kong Wai Kheong, a platoon commander,
who went to watch over the seven men he sent for the course, said
that he also helped in the dunking of trainees.
He had told Lt Divanandhari to stop dunking 2nd Sgt Hu, who
collapsed when pulled out of the tub of water. Lt Kong had moved
away after instructors attended to 2nd Sgt Hu, who started coughing
and looked as if he was recovering.
The sergeant later died in hospital.
Charged with causing the death of 2nd Sgt Hu and endangering the
life of another trainee, Capt Ho Wan Huo, 26, are Lt Jeff Ng Chin
Fong, 27, and Lt Divanandhari, 28. Capt Pandiaraj is accused of
instigating the offences while WO Balakrishnan is charged for
failing to stop the two lieutenants.
The trial continues.
