SCDF officer sentenced over ragging death

Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, a staff sergeant, was sentenced to one year and four weeks in jail.
Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, a staff sergeant, was sentenced to one year and four weeks in jail. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer who pushed fellow firefighter Kok Yuen Chin, 22, into a pump well during a ragging incident in May pleaded guilty yesterday.

Muhammad Nur Fatwa Mahmood, 34, a staff sergeant, was sentenced to one year and four weeks in jail after he admitted to causing death by a rash act and abetting the obstruction of justice when he told another officer to delete a video of the incident.

He is one of five SCDF officers charged in July over their involvement in the drowning of the full-time national serviceman, and the first to be sentenced.

A harrowing account of the May 13 incident also emerged in court yesterday, showing how a night of celebration over the end of Corporal Kok's NS stint turned into a tragedy, and how he had shown his hesitation in entering the pump well at various stages - until Nur Fatwa's push.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 24, 2018, with the headline SCDF officer sentenced over ragging death. Subscribe