Commandos charged over teen's death
Trainee died during 'dunking' exercise and another soldier was
injured; four accused are named for the first time
By Selina Lum and David Boey
THE infamous dunking incident that led to the death of a
19-year-old full-time national serviceman last year and an overhaul
of the army's training regimen has reached the courts.
Another soldier, Captain Ho Wan Huo, 26, survived. Five
others were injured in the incident last Aug
21.
Yesterday, as 2nd Sgt Hu's two brothers and their mother looked on,
all four appeared before District Judge Wong Choon Ning and had the
charges read out to them.
This was the first time that the men accused of involvement in the
tragedy had been publicly identified. They are Captain Pandiaraj
Mayandi, 33; Lieutenant Ng Chin Fong, 27; Lieutenant Divanandhari
Ambat Chandrasekharan, 28; and Warrant Officer S. Balakrishnan,
45.
Each is charged with causing 2nd Sgt Hu's death by a rash
act; and causing grievous hurt to Capt Ho
by a rash act that endangered his life.
All four accused had been suspended from duty at different
times.
According to the charges:
Pandiaraj, supervising officer of the Combat Survival Training
Course and the Officer Commanding of the Commando Training Wing of
the School of Commando, ordered the drill.
He told the instructors to hold the trainees' heads under water
four times, for up to 20 seconds each time.
Ng and Divanandhari held the trainees' heads under water. They
repeatedly held 2nd Sgt Hu's head in a tub of water, for up to 20
seconds each time, 'digging his nose' to keep him from holding his
breath, according to court documents.
They stopped him from surfacing to breathe, causing him to 'suffer
death by asphyxia and near drowning'.
They are accused of doing the same to Capt Ho, causing him to
suffer 'near drowning with acute respiratory distress
syndrome'.
Balakrishnan, the course commander, could have stopped it, but he
did not.
A Mindef spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday that Capt Ho
has since recovered.
Separate SAF and police investigations were launched after the
tragedy which was described as 'a stain on the reputation of the
SAF' by Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, who promised to get to the
bottom of things.
As investigations got underway, Chief Commando Officer Colonel Noel
Cheah was removed from his job.
Army investigators pored over some 20,000 lesson plans and training
safety regulations to re-assess their safety aspects. Hotlines were
put in for SAF personnel to report safety breaches.
The case has now been fixed for a pre-trial conference on June 22.
All four commandos are represented, Ng and Divanandhari by the same
lawyer. All are out on bail of $15,000 each.
The maximum penalty possible is two years' jail and a fine on each
charge.
The prosecution alleges that these offences were committed with
three other men, named in court documents as Toh Keng Tiong, Tan
Tien Huat and Shashi Kumar. The Defence Ministry was unable to give
details on them.
Asked if other commandos would face charges, Rear-Adm Teo said
yesterday that it was for the Attorney-General to decide.
'This is a fair and open system, a transparent system, and I think
it will give Singaporeans the assurance that we will deal with
issues openly, transparently, and the law will take its course,' he
said.
