SAF: Military personnel can be charged for negligence while on duty
Photo by AFP
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has issued a statement to dispel the perception that SAF servicemen who are injured or killed due to negligent acts cannot seek legal recourse under military rules.
The statement on Monday (7 March) was posted on the SAF’s Facebook page. It came four days after a lawsuit filed by the mother of the late Private Dominique Sarron Lee against the SAF and two of its officers on grounds of negligence during training was dismissed by the High Court.
Pte Lee died in 2012 due to an allergic reaction during the training that involved smoke grenades, according to the Coroner’s Inquiry.
“This is incorrect. SAF personnel can be charged and punished in the criminal courts for Penal Code offences of committing rash and negligent acts, even during the course of their military duties,” said Brigadier General Chan Wing Kai, Commander Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).
“The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), not the SAF, decides if the evidence warrants this course of action,” he added.
On 3 March, media reports said Judicial Commissioner Kannan Ramesh had accepted arguments from the defendants, who applied to strike out the suit on grounds that there was no reasonable cause of action that led to Pte Lee’s death.
The deceased’s mother, Felicia Seah, had filed a suit in 2015 against the SAF, platoon commander Captain Najib Hanuk Muhamad Jalal and Captain Chia Thye Siong, for being negligent during the training.
The ruling against the mother, who had to pay the legal fees of the defendants, caused an uproar among Singaporeans on social media. In addition, the defendants would be indemnified from litigation for negligence for deaths and injuries, as stated in the Government Proceedings Act.
Death by zinc chloride inhalation a ‘first for SAF’
BG Chan said that Pte Lee’s death due to inhalation of zinc chloride from the smoke grenades was a first in the SAF’s records in over thirty years of use.
He said that the number of smoke grenades discharged and the distance between them “were not in accordance with the limits and minimum distance specified in the Training Safety Regulations”.
According to the regulations, two is the maximum number of smoke grenades allowed to be used during training. Six smoke grenades were used during the training that led to Pte Lee’s death.
While no criminal charges were brought against the two officers, BG Chan said that administrative and disciplinary actions have been taken against them. However, he did not specify what the actions were.
SAF said it has also extended support to the Pte Lee’s family by disbursing welfare grants and offering compensation. He did not specify the value of the compensation and whether the family has accepted it.
BG Chan said, “(Compensation amounts) are generally two to four times that of amounts provided under the Work Injury Compensation Act for incidents arising from training and operations.”
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