Published20 JULY, 2013
UPDATED 22 JULY, 2013
SINGAPORE — A senior prison officer was yesterday fined S$10,000 for negligence that led to the death of an inmate in Cluster A of Changi Prison Complex nearly three years ago.
Lim Kwo Yin, 36, a Deputy Superintendent, pleaded guilty to one charge of causing the death of Dinesh Raman Chinnaiah by negligence not amounting to culpable homicide under section 304A(b) of the Penal Code.
He had failed to adequately supervise the restraint of Dinesh Raman by prison officers on Sept 27, 2010, after the inmate emerged from his cell and kicked Sergeant Lee Fangwei Jonathan in the abdomen.
The attack was unprovoked, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) said.
The restraint operation entailed three or four officers handling the deceased at any one time, with a total of seven officers involved apart from Lim.
The prisoner, then 21, had committed rioting and theft with common intention and was sentenced to reformative training on Dec 12, 2007. He was released from reformative training on Jan 6, 2010, and ordered to be placed on supervision. But in May, he was recalled to Changi Prison after failing to comply with the supervision order. He was due for release on Dec 11, 2010.
After restraining him, the officers took Dinesh Raman to a solitary cell and placed him in a prone position, belly down and with his head turned sideways. According to the statement of facts tendered in court yesterday, Lim failed to “adequately supervise” the restraint operation that restricted the respiratory movements of Dinesh Raman’s chest and abdomen. The officers left him unresponsive in the prone position in the cell.
Lim subsequently re-entered the cell to check on Dinesh Raman’s condition and called for medical help when he was found to be unresponsive.
The prisoner was pronounced dead at Changi General Hospital.
Lim was charged after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigated the incident and referred its findings to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement yesterday.
Defence lawyer Wendell Wong said in mitigation that Lim was “profoundly sorry and remorseful” for the incident. Lim had served in the SPS for 11 years with a clean record and had “absolutely no motive” to cause the prisoner’s death.
The officers had been reacting to a dynamic, real-life situation, and Lim had pleaded guilty and had not wasted the court’s time, said Mr Wong, who argued that a fine was adequate.
District Judge Liew Thiam Leng considered the mitigating factors and noted that Lim had sought medical attention — though with an unsuccessful outcome — for the prisoner. He was satisfied with a “heavy fine” for Lim, who could have been jailed for up to two years and fined.
Whether the seven other officers involved will face criminal charges is still under consideration, TODAY understands.
The SPS said in a statement yesterday that it will consider records of court proceedings and assess if other actions need to be taken against Lim and the other officers.
It said that Lim was not interdicted after the incident as there was no need for it. He was assigned non-operational duties and has been with the Technology Planning Branch of Prisons HQ since Oct 2010. Interdiction is not automatic and considered in circumstances where an officers’s continued presence would affect the department’s performance, pose serious risks at the workplace, hamper investigations or affect staff morale, said the SPS.
Apart from the CID’s investigation, the MHA separately appointed a Committee of Inquiry in March to look into the circumstances surrounding Dinesh Raman’s death and to recommend improvements to existing systems, protocols and processes. The committee submitted its report to the MHA last month.
Dinesh Raman’s mother attended the hearing yesterday and was teary-eyed after it ended. Mdm Selvi, 47, was accompanied by the secretary of her lawyer M Mahendran but declined to speak to the media. Mr Mahendran said she was still “traumatised” by the death of her only son and wanted closure because of “uncertainty” surrounding his death. The lawyer said that the family has not received any compensation.
The family has not decided on their next course of action as the outcome of the other officers involved in the incident is still not known, he said.
A coroner’s mention will be held next Tuesday but an inquiry will likely be vacated, Mr Mahendran said.
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/prison-officer-fined-s10k-causing-inmates-death
