The court proceedings against seven Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel in relation to the death of NSF Corporal First Class (CFC) Dave Lee in April 2018 has been completed, according to a press release by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

Previously, SAF Captain Tan Baoshu was charged for his role in Lee's death, but was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, as he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.

This means the charge is dropped, but can be revived subsequently.

Tan subsequently passed away on Feb. 13, 2020.

Incident happened in April 2018

On April 18, 2018, Lee collapsed from heat stroke after completing an 8km fast march.

He was hospitalised at Changi General Hospital, and passed away on April 30, 2018 from multiple organ injury, which resulted from his heat stroke.

Tan was the Officer Commanding of Support Company, 1st Guards Battalion at the time of Lee's heat stroke, and was also the supervising officer of the fast march itself.

On Oct. 31, 2018, he was charged with causing the death of Lee, after he failed to evacuate the fallen soldier in a timely fashion, and "disallowing the administration of the necessary treatment to CFC Lee, thereby causing the death of CFC Lee from heatstroke".

Six other servicemen convicted and sentenced for their role in the incident

Six other servicemen were referred by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to MINDEF for investigation into potential breaches of military law.

After investigations were conducted by the SAF's Investigation Branch, the six servicemen were charged in military court on Feb. 20, 2020.

All six servicemen pleaded guilty, and have been convicted and sentenced by the Subordinate Military Court.

1. Second Sergeant (2SG) Koh Ren Zhong was convicted of one charge of negligent performance of a lawful duty under Section 17(2) of the SAF Act, and was sentenced to a fine of S$1,800.
2. Corporal (NS) [CPL (NS)] Tan Jin Yang was convicted of two charges of negligent acts endangering life under Section 41(b) of the SAF Act, and was sentenced to a fine of S$4,500 in respect of both charges.
3. First Sergeant (1SG) Chia Zhi Xuan was convicted of one charge of disobedience of general orders under Section 21 of the SAF Act, and was sentenced to a fine of S$2,500.
4. CPL (NS) Chng Pheng Heng, CPL (NS) Jonas Ang Kai Jie and CPL (NS) Yep Ren Jie were each convicted of one charge of disobedience of general orders under Section 21 of the SAF Act and one charge of abuse of authority under Section 29 of the SAF Act. They were each sentenced to a fine of S$2,500 and demoted from the rank of Third Sergeant (NS) [3SG (NS)] to the rank of Corporal (CPL).

No heat stroke cases over the past two years

According to MINDEF, the SAF has introduced enhancements to existing heat injury management and prevention measures to strengthen the SAF's protocols, following Lee's death.

These measures included implementing a simplified evacuation protocol, improving heat injury awareness for commanders and medics, enhancing existing cooling and heat injury prevention measures, and strengthening an open reporting culture.

MINEDF stated that over the past two years, there is a 40 per cent decline in the number of heat injury cases within the SAF, and there have been no cases of heat stroke.

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Top image via Mindef and Jasmine Yeo HL/FB