A 39-year-old woman is being investigated for allegedly lying to the police that she had been robbed, police said in a statement on Tuesday (March 28).
The woman lodged a police report alleging that a motorcyclist had snatched her handbag containing cash and personal documents sometime past midnight on March 23, near Block 214 Bedok Central.
However, during the course of investigations, police detected several inconsistencies. It was later established that the woman had provided false information and was not a victim of a snatch thief.
TODAY understands that the woman’s motive in filing a false police report may have been to find an excuse for losing certain documents.
She may face a jail term of up to a year and/or a fine of up to S$5,000 for knowingly giving false information to a public servant.
“The Police would like to remind the public that Police resources could have been put to better use in dealing with real crimes and emergencies rather than investigating into false reports or false information. Those who lodge false Police reports or provide false information will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” the statement said.
Here is a look at past cases of high-profile maid abuse.
Husband and wife jailed over years of maid abuse
Husband Tay Wee Kiat faced 12 charges involving the couple’s two maids, while Chia Yun Ling was convicted of hitting one of them. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A 14-day trial revealed the numerous ways that former regional information technology manager Tay Wee Kiat, 39, and his wife Chia Yun Ling, 41, had assaulted their Indonesian maid for almost two years.
Tay was on March 11 sentenced to two years and four months in jail after he was convicted of all 12 charges.
Nine of the charges were for causing hurt to Ms Fitriyah, 34, with the other three for making his maid from Myanmar, Ms Moe Moe Than, slap Ms Fitriyah on the face; offering to pay Ms Fitriyah and send her home in exchange for not reporting his abuse; and instructing Ms Fitriyah to lie to the police that he did not abuse Ms Than.
Chia, meanwhile, got two months’ jail for slapping Ms Fitriyah some time between June and December 2012 and punching her on the forehead on Dec 7 that year.
Over a two-week period, Zinnerah Abdul Majeed also hit domestic helper May Thu Phyo with a bamboo pole, a belt buckle and even a bicycle lock, leaving her with multiple injuries. PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
All she did was break a cup while washing utensils in the kitchen. But that was enough reason for the domestic helper’s employer, Zinnerah Abdul Majeed, to press a heated metal spoon on her arms around the last week of August 2015.
The helper, Ms May Thu Phyo, 23, had been working for the family for only about a month when the abuse started.
That was not the only punishment Ms May had to endure over a two-week period, a district court heard. Zinnerah had hit her with a bamboo pole, a belt buckle and even a bicycle lock, leaving her with multiple injuries.
On Nov 2, 2016, Zinnerah was jailed 20 months after pleading guilty to three counts of maid abuse at her home in Yishun Avenue 4.
Mother-daughter pair jailed for abusing maid, leaving her with permanent disability
Jayasheela Jayaraman (left) and her mother, Anpalaki Muniandy Marimuthu were sentenced 12 months and 16 months’ jail respectively for hurting the former’s maid. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Housewife Anpalaki Muniandy Marimuthu, 65, and her daughter, warehouse supervisor Jayasheela Jayaraman, 43, were on Sept 23, 2016, jailed 16 months and 12 months respectively for hurting the latter’s maid.
Ms Sriyatun, 27, was left with a permanent disability in her left ear from the abuse.
Among the instances of abuse she was subjected to included being slapped for not carrying Jayasheela’s shoes into the family’s Bendemeer flat, having her swollen ear pinched before it healed and having her breast squeezed and twisted for being slow in her work.
Anapalaki also hurt Ms Sriyatun with household objects on a few occasions.
Maid ‘hit with hammer’ for not cleaning toilet properly
Ms Khanifah (above) had been working for Zariah Mohd Ali and Mohamad Dahlan for about six months when the alleged abuses took place. She told the court she was hit on the head with a hammer at least five times.ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Indonesian domestic worker Khanifah, 35, allegedly suffered various abuses at the hands of her female employer, who is accused of using an array of weapons to injure her.
These included a hammer, bamboo pole and pounder that knocked out or broke her teeth, leaving her with head wounds that are still visible, Ms Khanifah told a district court on April 18, 2016.
The employer, Zariah Mohd Ali, 54, is being tried on 12 of 28 maid abuse charges. Zariah’s husband, Mohamad Dahlan, 56, is also accused of hitting Ms Khanifah with the cover of a frying pan.
The alleged offences occurred at the couple’s home in Woodlands Street 31 between June and December 2012, after Ms Khanifah had been working for them for about six months.
Rosman Anwar (left) and his wife Khairani Abdul Rahman had their jail terms increased for the prolonged abuse of their Indonesian maid. ST PHOTOS: WONG KWAI CHOW
A couple who routinely slapped their Indonesian maid and even threatened to send her to work in the sex trade in Batam had their jail terms increased after the prosecution won its appeal on Sept 25, 2015.
Khairani Abdul Rahman, a 42-year-old customer service officer, had her four-week jail term doubled to eight. Her 47-year-old husband, senior logistics officer Rosman Anwar, had his jail term tripled from two weeks to six.
In allowing the prosecution’s appeal, Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon said the original sentences were manifestly inadequate for the prolonged nature of the abuse and the psychological and emotional toll on the maid.
In an earlier trial, the couple had been found guilty of causing hurt to Ms Solichah, 28. Khairani was convicted of three charges – two for slapping the maid and one for hitting her with a plastic stool. The husband was convicted on two charges – slapping the maid and pulling her hair.
Woman jailed for joining mother in attack on maid; locking her in apartment
Chua committed both offences while under a mandatory treatment order for paranoid schizophrenia. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Chua Siew Peng, 44, was on May 5, 2016, sentenced to two months’ jail for assaulting her Filipino domestic helper Jonna Memeje Muegue and keeping her locked in her sister’s Bukit Timah condo on Oct 30, 2012.
Chua’s 75-year-old mother Lum Wai Lui had assaulted Ms Muegue for eating salmon not meant for her. Chua then entered the toilet and joined in by pulling the maid’s hair and slapping her repeatedly.
Ms Muegue escaped escaped the following day by climbing out of the sixth-floor window, scaling the ledge and jumping onto the rooftop of the floor below – breaking her feet in the process.
Ms Muegue testified that Lum abused her between March/April 2012 and October that year by punching, slapping, kicking and hitting her head against a wall and pouring bleach on her hands and arms. She also said she was underfed and lost 10kg.
Lum, a retired radiograph and medicine technician, was given 21 months’ probation after being convicted of maid abuse in 2015.
Tutor Low Gek Hong, 37, repeatedly scratched the Myanmar maid on the face, arms and ears for being inefficient, and used a pair of scissors to poke the victim’s left shoulder in February 2012. PHOTO: ST FILE
Tutor Low Gek Hong, 37, repeatedly abused her mother’s 17-year-old maid over three months from December 2011 to February 2012, three months into the maid’s employment at her mother’s Tampines flat.
She repeatedly scratched the Myanmar maid on the face, arms and ears for being inefficient, and used a pair of scissors to poke the victim’s left shoulder in February 2012 because the maid could not find a pillowcase that Low wanted changed. Low also punished the maid by kicking her, biting her, and hitting her with a metal hanger, including once pouring a mug of hot water onto the victim’s back for falling asleep in the toilet.
Low, whose claim that she was suffering from depression when she abused the maid was rejected, was sentenced to nine months jail on April 29, 2015, and ordered to pay the maid $5,000 compensation.
3 more months’ jail for ‘relentless tormentor’ of maid
Chan Huey Fern’s case was said to be one of the most distressing maid-abuse cases. PHOTO: ST FILE
Chan Huey Fern, 33, was on Sept 10, 2014, given three additional months’ jail on top of her 21-month jail sentence for hitting the back of her Indonesian maid with a foldable chair.
She had initially been convicted in 2013 of abusing Ms Juwarti, then 22, at her Buangkok flat between June and September 2010.
Chan, who punched Ms Juwarti in the eye and chest, kicked her in the groin until the latter bled and stamped on her body on separate occasions, had her case labelled as “probably one of the most distressing domestic maid-abuse cases in Singapore” by trial judge Low Wee Ping.
Isu Bahasa & Agama: Tidak Perlu Menghina Pengunaan Sesuatu Bahasa dan Para Penggunanya
Baru-baru ini ada tengkarah mengenai penggunaan bahasa yang digunakan dalam kelas-kelas agama yang dijalankan di sebuah Masjid.
Si ayah mengatakan yang beliau rasa “ditipu” kerana anaknya hadir dalam kelas madrasah sambilan yang menggunakan bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa pengantar dan bukan bahasa Inggeris, sebagaimana yang dikatakan ayah tersebut. Kata-kata yang diluahkan ayah tersebut telah mengundang reaksi yang pelbagai.
Satu bentuk reaksi adalah kehampaan terhadap ayah tersebut yang telah mencemuh pihak Masjid dan juga para pengguna bahasa Melayu.
Sekiranya benar bagai dikata oleh ayah tersebut, maka seharusnya pihak Masjid terbabit pastikan yang kelas-kelas madrasahnya menggunakan bahasa Inggeris dan bukan bahasa lain. Dan pihak Masjid sudahpun berikan respons yang cepat untuk tangani maklumbalas tersebut dengan segera, sambil memohon maaf.
Namun, pada masa yang sama juga, isu ini sebenarnya dapat ditangani dengan cara yang lebih bijak. Sekiranya nak bawa juga isu ini ke tengah melalui media sosial, pendekatan yang lebih merendahkan diri akan lebih meraih simpati dan sokongan ramai. Dan setentunya, terdapat pilihan lain untuk tangani isu secara bersemuka – bertemu dengan pihak Masjid terbabit dan dapatkan penjelasan secara terus-menerus tanpa melalui hiruk-pikuk media sosial sebagai perantaraan.
Satu perkara yang susah untuk dilepaskan atau dibiarkan begitu sahaja adalah sikap yang tertonjol jelas melalui episod ini.
Apakah yang sikap tersebut?
Iaitu sikap negatif terhadap penggunaan bahasa Melayu dalam pengajaran Agama. Episod ini, tidak secara langsung, mempamerkan betapa bahasa Melayu dan para penggunanya dipandang begitu rendah sekali oleh sesetengah golongan yang kelihatannya seperti berbangsa Melayu. Dan pandangan negatif itu menjadi lebih negatif apabila ianya dibawa ke dalam konteks pengajaran Agama.
Mengapakah sampai begitu negatif sekali tanggapan sesetengah pihak terhadap penggunaan Bahasa Melayu dan para penggunanya, apatah lagi dalam konteks pengajaran Agama?
Dan di sini juga, bukanlah berniat untuk mempertikaikan penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris dan penggunaan dalam pengajaran Agama.
BUKAN.
Nak pakai Bahasa Inggeris, pakailah. Silakan.
Isunya adalah, apakah perlu memperlekehkan Bahasa Melayu dan para penggunanya dalam kontek mempertikaikan apa yang dikatakan dijanjikan oleh pihak Masjid terbabit berbanding apa yang disajikan dalam kelas?
Tidak ada sesiapapun akan mempertikaikan hak seseorang untuk mendapatkan apa yang dijanjikan oleh pihak lain. Dan sekiranya didapati betul akan tuntutan hak tersebut, pihak yang menjanjikan memang seharusnya memenuhi janji tersebut dan memohon maaf sekiranya tidak melaksanakan janji tersebut.
Namun, dalam menuntut hak tersebut, tidak perlu untuk melakukannya dengan cara menghina sesuatu bahasa dan para penggunanya.
Undoubtedly, every young motorcycle racer aspires to race on the international stage and have their names on the lips of talent scouts.
Last weekend, 11 young riders from six Asian countries began pursuing their dreams by taking part in a one-make race called the KTM RC Cup Asia at the Sepang International Circuit.
Aged between 14 and 22, the riders, who rode KTM RC390 sportsbikes, competed in Round 1 of five rounds in what was categorised as the Orange Class.
Of the 11 riders, two of them were Singaporean brothers who have been racing regionally these past few years.
Their mother, Madam Mazlindah Abdul Ma’moon, told The New Paper she was nervous but proud to see both youths representing the country.
The 47-year-old, who works in a bank, said: “I must admit there was some fear, because they had never raced in the same event before… There was double pressure for me.”
Fortunately, there were no crashes or drama between Muhammad Aiman Nabil Shaharum, 16, and Arsyad Rusydi Shaharum, 19.
Aiman, who is supported by local KTM distributor DirtWheel Motor, said: “If anything happened between my brother and me on the circuit, it would have been an awkward car ride back to Singapore. But I think having him in the same race was beneficial as we could strategise how to win.”
Aiman finished the weekend with two top-five spots. He was fifth on Saturday’s race and fourth on Sunday at the circuit’s 2.6km South Track.
Aiman, who will be starting his polytechnic education next month, said: “All the others were experienced riders. It was my first time on the KTM RC390, and I started riding it only a week before the races.”
The race weekend was dominated by Malaysian riders such as Round 1 overall winner M. Ibrahim Mohd Norrodin.
Competition was stiff with the top riders crossing the finish line within the blink of an eye from one another.
The winners stand a chance to race in the world final in Europe with the possibility of participating in the prestigious RedBull Rookies Cup.
KTM’s executive director for South-east Asia, Mr Selvaraj Narayana, said: “The races were closely fought, which was what we hoped for… We could also see the racing level of the riders significantly improving from the first day to the second.”
Aside from Asia, there are eight other KTM RC Cups being run worldwide in countries such as Germany, the US and France.
Aiman, who is too young to have a motorcycle licence, said he “does not care” to get one as his parents forbid him from riding on public roads.
Madam Mazlindah said: “My sons race in a controlled environment. There are no heavy vehicles apart from the other motorcycles. I feel confident as they are in full riding gear.”
Cyclists will be able to travel safely alongside cars from April 22 when the island’s first on-road bicycle lane opens in Changi East.
There will be a 10km-long, dedicated 2m-wide lane for two-wheelers on both sides of the extended Tanah Merah Coast Road. The bicycle lane, which can fit two cyclists riding abreast, will be demarcated from the vehicular carriageway.
Raised chevron-shaped markings will help alert motorists when they veer into it, and red markings will also alert cyclists to look out for turning vehicles. The cycling lane will also be diverted behind bus stops to minimise interaction between buses and cyclists.
While on-road cycling lanes were launched on Sentosa last year, this is the first time that they are making a debut on a public road on the mainland.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said new bicycle lanes will provide an alternative for cyclists who frequent the 6km Changi Coast Road, which will close on April 22.
LTA made clear, however, that it does not have plans to build more on-road cycling lanes.
“Given the lack of land in Singapore, LTA will focus on building off-road cycling paths. They are much safer for the majority of cyclists and personal mobility device users,” said a spokesman.
Under the National Cycling Plan, the Government will build 700km of cycling paths by 2030 – in a bid to reduce car usage. While neighbourhoods such as Tampines have cycling paths, these are separated from the road infrastructure.
Works to extend and widen Tanah Merah Coast Road, which started in 2014, are meant to facilitate construction of a third runway at the airport and Terminal 5.
The road was widened from a dual two-lane road to a three-lane road and extended to hug the eastern coastline and link to Aviation Park Road.
There will be a new park connector running along the extended Tanah Merah Coast Road, linking the one coming from East Coast Park and another one along Aviation Park Road.
