On Wednesday (15 Jan), the senior Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officer who left a full-time National Serviceman (NSF) alone in the Henderson Road blaze was sentenced to six months in jail.
On 8 Dec 2022, 39-year-old Muhammad Kamil Mohamed Yasin was fighting a fire at a Bukit Merah HDB flat with 19-year-old NSF Edward H. Go when he started feeling dizzy from the heat and decided to leave the building.
However, this led to the death of the NSF who was left to fight the blaze alone.
According to The Straits Times (ST), Muhammad Kamil pled guilty to one count of causing grievous hurt by committing a rash act, leading to the death of NSF Go who was posthumously promoted to the rank of Sergeant (1).
According to ST, Muhammad Kamil has been a firefighter since 2008. Therefore, he is aware of the SCDF practice of firefighters operating in pairs at a minimum.
Yet despite knowing this, he left Sgt 1 Go in the Henderson Road flat to fight the fire on his own, which resulted in the Sergeant’s death.
Source: SCDF on Facebook
Kamil reportedly gave Sgt 1 Go a tap on the shoulder and flashed him a thumbs-up before leaving the flat, but did not verbally inform him that he was leaving, despite the fire not being put out.
Kamil also did not inform anybody in the SCDF that the Sgt 1 Go was still fighting the fire alone.
Throughout the entire hearing, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Benjamin Low noted that Kamil did not seem remorseful, citing the fact that the SCDF officer gave a different account of what had happened during his first interview.
Kamil reportedly only came clean and admitted to the events during his second interview.
During the mitigation, veteran criminal lawyer Mr Ramesh Tiwary sought a sentence of two to three months in jail.
He added: ” It was a real life situation, and he made a mistake, under pressure and under duress, and unfortunately he will have to pay for it.”
Source: Our Tanjong Pagar on Facebook
Judge Ho asked if Kamil knew that two out of three firefighters had felt the fatigue from the fire and why he did he not withdraw Sgt 1 Go from the unit.
Mr Tiwary then replied: “Because mistakes happen, and he will not have to pay the price for his mistake. If he did withdraw the deceased, we all would not be here today.”
Also read: SCDF Officers Pay Tribute To Fallen Firefighter, He Gets Promoted To Sergeant After Passing
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Obits and Shin Min Daily News on Facebook.
Netizens found fault in both driver and pedestrian.
Steps to take if you are a Singaporean who will be overseas on Polling Day.
The man would perform sexual acts on the victim both in the shower and in…
A voter's guide to the General Election process.
Those working and studying overseas need not return to vote.
However, another student accused the group of treating the stunt as an "aesthetic" that glorified…