A full-time national serviceman (NSF) under the Singapore Police Force was sentenced to two months’ jail for pointing an empty revolver at a fellow NSF and pulling the trigger, The Straits Times reported.
Justin Degoulange-Chua, 21, was the group leader of a patrol team in the Public Transport Security Command (Transcom) at that time of the incident on March 5 last year. Muhammad Syukri Rahiman, 21, and one other NSF — both fresh graduates from the basic Transcom course — were placed under his wing.
While resting from patrols in the police room of Bugis MRT station, Degoulange-Chua briefed them about the team culture, with newbies being required to undergo various forms of punishment like push-ups and jumping jacks, presumably as part of their hazing ritual. Syukri was then ordered to do push-ups with his extended T-baton placed on his back.
After the victim performed one push-up, Degoulange-Chua told the victim to get up. He unbuckled his right holster, drew his Taurus revolver and removed all five rounds and placed four of them on the table, hiding one in his left hand. After closing the chamber, he then asked Syukri how many rounds there were on the table, to which he replied four. The accused then said that there was a round in the revolver, and pointed the weapon at the victim.
He then squeezed off the trigger, causing Syukri to jump out of his chair and shout at the accused to stop, as he was afraid of being injured or killed, according to Deputy Public Prosecutor Ho Lian-Yi in court. The entire incident was captured by an assistant group leader on his mobile phone, and the footage was uploaded on Snapchat.
Degoulange-Chua had asked all three men in his team, including the victim, to cover up the incident. During investigations, the accused lied in a statement, claiming that he did not point his revolver at anyone, but had only taken it out to check it. He only told the truth about three months later.
Defence lawyer S. Balamurugan said in mitigation that his client, who is now a student, has apologized to the victim and said his actions were completely “out of character”, causing him great anxiety.
He could have faced a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for providing false information to a public servant. He could also have faced an additional $5,000 fine and six months’ jail for using threatening behavior with intent to cause alarm.
