SINGAPORE - The fifth and final man in a case involving the unlawful dissemination of photographs showing a fatal Bionix accident was sentenced to six months' probation on Monday (June 15).
Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yihong told the court that the prosecution intends to appeal against the sentence.
She had earlier urged District Judge Christopher Goh to sentence Thng Yu Xuan, now 22, to a fine.
DPP Zhou also said that four other men linked to the case had been given fines over their roles in the offence.
They are Muhammad Arif Azman, 22; Muhammad Zaki Haji Mokhtar, 24; and Brandon Tan Jien Jet and Mohamad Haikal Mohd Zainal Abiddin, both 21. They were each fined between $1,500 and $3,000.
Thng had pleaded guilty to an offence under the Official Secrets Act back in February.
All five men, who were attached to Jurong Fire Station, have since completed their national service with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Corporal First Class Liu Kai, 22, was killed in the accident on Nov 3, 2018.
The transport operator from SAF's Transport Hub West died after the Bionix mounted the Land Rover he was driving at the Murai Urban Training Facility.
Thng, who was holding the rank of Sergeant 1, was part of the team sent to the accident scene around 10.20am, along with Arif and Haikal.
DPP Zhou had earlier said: "Prior to assisting his teammates in the extrication, Arif used his personal mobile phone to take two photographs of the scene, both of which captured the Bionix and the Land Rover crushed beneath it.
"Haikal similarly used his personal mobile phone and took five photographs of the scene... None of the five photographs show the deceased."
Thng did not snap any photographs. The SCDF officers returned to Jurong Fire Station at around 2pm that day.
Arif and Haikal then sent the photographs to a WhatsApp chat group made up of 24 present and former SCDF personnel attached to the fire station. Thng, Zaki and Tan were part of the group.
After receiving the pictures, Thng forwarded four of them to another chat group as he "wanted to show them what had happened and to gossip".
Around 4pm on the same day, the commander of Jurong Fire Station, Captain Dinesh K Verlachamy received information from an SCDF public affairs officer that a photograph of the accident site was circulating on WhatsApp.
Captain Dinesh then carried out interviews to find out how the picture was leaked.
DPP Zhou had said: "It was during the briefing and interviews that Arif and Haikal were identified as the individuals who had taken and circulated the accident site photographs.
"It was also discovered that Brandon, Zaki and Yu Xuan had further disseminated the photographs... to their friends and family."
Anyone convicted of wrongful communication of official information is liable to a fine of up to $2,000 and two years in jail.
