A former lifeguard at Sentosa allegedly poured liquor into a partygoer’s mouth and then raped her at the beach when she was unconscious, said a witness at the High Court on Tuesday (Sep 15).
A friend of the victim who had accompanied her to a beach party at Wave House, both of whom cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, took the witness stand on Tuesday.
According to the witness, she had drinks with the victim and the accused, Pram Nair, 26, on the night of May 5, 2012. Nair was a lifeguard at Sentosa then.
The witness claimed that Nair poured liquor from a Cointreau bottle directly into the victim’s mouth for 20 seconds, and that he suggested doing so because the victim was 20 years old.
In the opening of the prosecution’s case last month, Deputy Public Prosecutor Bhajanvir Singh said the victim was introduced to Nair at the party.
At one point, Nair, who is represented by lawyer Peter Ong, allegedly took the intoxicated victim to the beach and raped her, he said.
Prior to the alleged incident, the witness said she had tried looking for the victim to leave the party and found Nair supporting her as she looked “really drunk”. Nair then told her to grab the victim’s bag but the witness could not find them when she returned.
WITNESS FOUND VICTIM “PASSED OUT” ON BEACH
The witness called the victim on her mobile phone multiple times but no one answered. When someone did pick up one time, no one said anything on the other end, she said. She called again, and this time Nair picked up and told her they were at the beach and she need not go look for them.
But the witness still headed to the beach and found the victim “passed out” there. She was wearing only a tank top and could not respond to anything the witness was saying. She also claimed that Nair was rummaging through his bag near where the victim was found and threw her a pair of shorts to put on the victim.
The witness said the victim was not very coherent by then and claimed that the victim had asked her to call her boyfriend or another man called Jeremy.
When the victim started foaming at her mouth, the witness said she called for an ambulance.
WITNESS “UPSET” THAT ACCUSED SHOWED NO INTEREST IN HER: DEFENCE
During the defence’s cross examination of the witness, Mr Ong challenged her statement and claimed that the witness had been the one who suggested that the liquor be poured directly into the victim’s mouth for 20 seconds.
He then disputed the duration of that particular incident, saying that the liquor was only poured for one to two seconds.
Mr Ong also questioned the witness’s conclusion that the victim was raped by Nair when the witness did not see him doing anything. He also suggested that the witness was upset that Nair had not shown interest in her and hence accused him of raping the victim.
The witness on Tuesday disagreed to the above challenges made by the lawyer.
The trial continues on Wednesday and if convicted, Nair ccould be jailed up to 20 years and fined or caned.
Editor’s note: Mothership.sg called for young Singaporeans to step up and provide their voice in written form for GE2015. The aim of such an endeavour is to provide our readers a means to view GE2015 through the lens of young Singaporeans, warts, sparkles and all.
The election results have been shocking, to say the least, in the Workers’ Party (WP) not gaining more seats and even losing an incumbent MP in Lee Li Lian of Punggol East SMC. And it happened in what many claimed to to be a watershed election, a turning point and change of the status quo after 2011.
Here are some possible reasons why the WP didn’t do as well as expected.
1. Their performance in Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) and how it was harped upon by everyone and their mothers.
Photo by Pandora Wong for Mothership.sg
The WP probably felt besieged as People’s Action Party (PAP) politicians went on the offensive with the WP’s management of AHPETC. Sylvia Lim, chairwoman of WP and sitter of a self-proclaimed “hot seat”, hit the nail on the head when she said:
“Voters everywhere by now should be convinced that any Opposition town council will be well-scrutinised to ensure proper management.”
Low Thia Khiang, secretary-general of WP, was forced to (in a very showy manner), show that Punggol East SMC’s accounts were in a deficit before it was passed over to the WP after the 2013 by-election.
This was then rebutted by PAP candidate for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Zainal Sapari, when he said Punggol East SMC was in “good financial health when the whole set of accounts handed over to AHPETC is read together”. According to him, although there was a deficit in the accumulated routine fund of $282,009, the same set of accounts also showed an amount of $303,372 claimable as reimbursement from the CIPC fund, which PRPGTC had already secured for Punggol East SMC, which would result in a actual net surplus of $21,363.
Even the most benign or indifferent voters would have second thoughts on WP’s ability to manage town councils with that major back and forth on AHPETC between the WP and PAP, as well as AHPETC’s ongoing case against the Ministry of National Development (MND). The MND had brought an application to court to appoint independent accountants to AHPETC. Although their application was rejected by the High Court, MND has appealed before the Court of Appeal and the judgement has been reserved (ie. the result is yet unknown).
2. The (largely) false perception of WP’s lacklustre performance in Parliament debates.
The late Lee Kuan Yew said of Chen Show Mao in his book:
“Chen, however, has not turned out to be so brilliant. In Parliament, he makes good prepared speeches, with a written script, but in the follow-up, he is all over the place. It simply does not gel for him. The weight of public expectation of the man, given his rather impressive résumé, has probably added to the disappointment.”
Criticism of that level, from Singapore’s founding Prime Minister (PM) would eat at any self-respecting man’s self-esteem.
Nonetheless, even Chen Show Mao has spoken at 45 out 108 parliament sittings attended, with a 93.9% attendance rate. This is in comparison with the perennial absentee PAP MP Raymond Lim, who stepped down from being Transport Minister in 2011 and retired from politics in 2015. He spoke up for 0 out of 82 parliament sittings attended, with a 71.3% attendance rate.
Of course, in addition to attending Parliament sitting and speaking up, the WP MPs are not toothless in Parliament debates either, as seen from Low Thia Khiang’s fiery exchanges with PM Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament. Those who look forward to more opposition in Parliament would probably savour the tense dialogue between the 2 party leaders on May 28, 2014.
PM Lee: Madam Speaker, I am very grateful for the extremely reasonable explanation from the member. I hope he takes an equally reasonable approach when he comes to election rallies because the Workers’ Party approach has been to be extremely reasonable, indeed low-profile in Parliament, but come election time to turn into tigers and heroes.
Low: Madam Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for praising the Workers’ Party’s ability to fight in the elections. We have no intention to hide ourselves in Parliament. We seek the mandate for people to come to Parliament to check against the Government and we have done it honestly and sincerely, we have not turned this place into a theatre — that shows we are responsible and we will behave continuously as a rational and responsible party and members should.
I believe members will agree that the Workers’ Party has been rational. We have not come here with some wild policies or wild suggestions. We debate the policies, we came out with some suggestions but these are not bankrupting the government coffers or suggesting to use the reserves.
Elections — I think we are also rational, we don’t accuse the PAP of something that we cannot substantiate or I know we will get sued. So I think we are fair. And elections (are) elections and I thank the Prime Minister for noting that we can fight elections. I am sure the PAP can too. You are the Government and you have been the governing party for 50 years and you have got more, much people, talented people than the Workers’ Party! How can you say that we are tigers and we are something else in Parliament? I am sure the PAP can equally be tigers or lions.
Those few rare instances of excitement in Singapore’s Parliament are a tempting glimpse into what may occur with more seats to the Opposition in Parliament.
In 2011, Low Thia Khiang created a buzz when he left his stronghold of Hougang to attack Aljunied GRC with an ‘A’ team along with chairwoman Sylvia Lim and then star catch Chen Show Mao. This gamble paid off as they won Aljunied with 54.72% of the vote.
In this election, despite Sylvia Lim teasing that she may run in Fengshan SMC with her orh luak photo, all the incumbent MPs stayed to compete in their seats. Even though star candidates such as National University of Singapore (NUS) sociology associate professor Daniel Goh and business consultancy CEO Leon Perera ran in East Coast GRC, perhaps voters were unconvinced by how party bigwigs like Low and Sylvia Lim did not venture out to unchartered territories.
There was perhaps a slight commotion around the poison pen letter attack on Daniel Goh, but other than that, the remaining WP candidates did not face a baptism of fire.
Instead, the focus went back to AHPETC, along with many analogies on ships- gambling ships, cruise ships, the Titanic, sampans.
4. Perceived arrogance as the leading opposition party in Singapore.
Here’s The Workers’ Party chairperson Sylvia Lim addressing the media on their absence from the opposition horse-trading meeting on Thursday night. #GE2015
The WP might have been perceived as arrogant when they skipped the second round of horse-trading talks between the opposition parties, intended to avoid 3-cornered fights.
Low Thia Khiang then poured metaphorical salt into the wounds of the other opposition parties by saying that the multi-cornered fights in Punggol East SMC in both the 2011 GE and a by-election in 2013 were a “waste of resources”. He added: “I suppose we can better use … resources to focus on giving a choice to the people.”
Screenshot from video
ESM Goh also weighed in on WP’s supposed arrogance when he said: “They (Workers’ Party) are stronger than the NSP (National Solidarity Party), there’s no doubt about that. There’s a certain arrogance in them… Will that same arrogance be able to replace me in Marine Parade? Let them try.”
This perception of arrogance may have swayed voters from voting for WP as they fear that if WP has more MPs in Parliament, they would become more confrontational towards the PAP, disrupting the smooth running of the nation.
5. Voters can’t relate as well to the new candidates.
The die-hard supporters of WP seem to mostly be heartland uncles and aunties. For them, they can relate better to the Teochew and Hokkien-speaking Low and Png Eng Huat, rather than the “Oxbridge-educated” candidates like He Ting Ru and Leon Perera. One could say that the WP’s fielding of candidates with PAP-like credentials was to boost its reputation as a “credible, responsible opposition”.
Photo by Mindy Tan
However, that may have come at the price of not attracting certain segments of the population, particularly voters who perceive these credentials as a mark of elitism, similar to the PAP. WP candidates like academics (Associate Professor Daniel Goh) and lawyers (Dennis Tan, Terence Tan, He Ting Ru) cannot really be differentiated from the usual PAP crop of lawyers and doctors as of now.
Photo by Sean Yeo for Mothership.sg
To their credit though, the WP has tried to assuage concerns that their new candidates may be elitist. Dennis Tan, candidate for Fengshan SMC and former Raffles Institution boy, in his rally speech, emphasised that WP MPs, along with the rank and file of the party, worked to stack chairs after community events. He said: “Being a product of a good school does not mean that one has to be an elitist. It all boils down to a person’s attitude towards other people.”
In a way, with the lack of differentiation between the similarly-credentialed WP and PAP candidates, some voters may just decide to go for “the real deal” in the PAP, who have the added advantage of mentors with experience in running town councils and the vast grassroots machinery of the PAP as support. Therefore, these swing voters may just choose to stick with the status quo in the PAP, rather than to take a risk with untested opposition MPs.
Professionals, managers, executives and technicians (or PMETs) may also have not been fully convinced by the new candidates fielded by WP. After all, they come in untested, without mentoring in running town councils or with the vast grassroots machinery of the PAP as support. Voters might think that credentials, after all, do not necessarily translate to competence.
Since you want your name spread around social media, let me help you out. You are really the black sheep of Singaporeans, bringing down the good name of Singaporeans worldwide.
So what if you are a boss of a company, is that supposed to be impressive? Considering you shout and rant when i ask you to return a paltry $200.
You mean you speak a little more english than me allows you to avoid returning money?( pretends not to understand my Chinese text messages) I gave you 2 months to return $200, i think that’s more than sufficient time given.
Plus you gave an excuse that you have invested money in new business investment, that is completely none of my concern and the investment is definitely much more than a few hundred dollars!
Since you have no intention of returning the money i feel it’s better to just post this out and let others be wary of this conman.
A 5-room HDB resale flat in Toa Payoh recently changed hands for $955,000 a figure that is comparable to the high resale flat prices at The Pinnacle@Duxton, reported My Paper.
The sale also stood out as it happened near the Ghost Month, which is usually a quiet period for the property market.
Measuring 124 sqm, the 14-year-old flat is located at Block 154 in Toa Payoh Lorong 2, between the 22nd and 24th storeys, showed HDB data.
In July 2007, a 5-room resale flat on the 28th storey of the same block was sold for $650,000, a new record for resale flat prices within the area at that time.
Eugene Lim, Key Executive Officer at ERA Realty, said the unit enjoys an excellent location.
Situated just across the road from Toa Payoh Town Centre, the flat is near the Toa Payoh MRT station, with an underpass directly linking to it, he said.
Since it is on a high floor, the unit is not blocked by any surrounding flats, offering unobstructed views, noted Lim.
If the owner is facing the right direction, he can even see the MacRitchie Reservoir, he added.
However, he believes the deal is unlikely to become a trend as it is more of an exception than the norm.
The long-running City Harvest trial closed yesterday, with four of the accused stressing that there was no wrongful loss suffered by City Harvest Church (CHC).
They said they were entitled legally to invest church funds in the music career of the pastor’s wife as it was a church objective.
This was their stand as lawyers on both sides wrapped up their closing submissions on the 140th day of the trial. A verdict will be delivered on Oct 21 by Presiding Judge of the State Courts See Kee Oon.
Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan, acting for 42-year-old deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, said it was “crystal clear” to church auditors and lawyers that money from CHC’s building fund was invested in pop singer Ho Yeow Sun’s music career.
“The money that went out came back to the church, with interest,” he said, adding that evidence showed the church was allowed to invest in Ms Ho’s career.
But whether this investment was an authorised use of the building fund, is a point disputed by the prosecution. Ms Ho is the wife of senior pastor Kong Hee, 51.
Kong, Tan and four others are accused of misappropriating $24 million in CHC’s building funds through sham bond investments in music production firm Xtron and glass maker Firna, and of misusing a further $26 million to cover it up.
The four others are former finance managers Serina Wee, 38, and Sharon Tan, 39, and former investment committee members Chew Eng Han, 55, and John Lam, 47. The bonds were used to bankroll Ms Ho’s music career. CHC wanted to use her music to spread the Gospel through what it called the Crossover Project.
Wee’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Andre Maniam, said it was “very significant” that the prosecution did not dispute that the Crossover Project was in line with church objectives.
“The prosecution says that we are like Robin Hood, trying to justify robbing the rich to give to the poor… Here, it was church funds being used to further church objectives, not taking money from rich to give to poor,” said Mr Maniam.
Chew, representing himself, said the funds were invested in Xtron and Firna – which had legal obligations to return the money. But the recoverability of the bonds was based on projections of Ms Ho’s unreleased US album – for which his fellow co-accused had to rely on Kong . “For the obvious reason that the one that has the most knowledge and the one that’s managing it is Kong Hee himself,” said Chew.
He also hit back at the prosecution, who called his evidence incoherent on Monday.
Chew, who has three decades of experience in finance, said: “Just because the prosecution cannot understand my explanation, doesn’t mean I’ve contradicted myself between my evidence-in-chief and submissions. I think they had better go and take some courses in financial markets before they throw insults at me.”
Meanwhile, Sharon Tan’s lawyer Paul Seah reiterated that his client was “merely a worker taking instructions and carrying them out”.
The lawyers for Kong and Lam responded on Monday.
Rounding up the submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mavis Chionh called into question the defence’s argument that the accused had acted in good faith.
She asked the court to consider their actions over the years – such as when Kong told CHC executive members in 2007 that the building fund was to be invested to preserve its value, while at the same time, he planned to spend $13 million from it on Ms Ho’s music career.
