Monday, December 9, 2013

Little India Riots





Chaos broke out in Little India last night (Dec 8), after a crowd of hundreds surrounded a coach at the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road that knocked down and killed an Indian national. The riot, which the police said involved about 400 people, broke out around 9.30pm. The police said 27 South Asians have been arrested. More could be hauled in as investigations continue. The case has been classified as rioting with dangerous weapons. In total, there were 18 casualties including 10 police officers, four Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel, as well as the coach driver - whom the police said is Singaporean - and his assistant. Six remained at Tan Tock Seng hospital overnight but their conditions were “not serious”, the authorities said. Writing on Facebook at close to 3am, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the riot was a “very grave incident”. “Several police officers were injured, and vehicles damaged or destroyed. The situation is now under control, and investigations are underway.” he said. “Whatever events may have sparked the rioting, there is no excuse for such violent, destructive, and criminal behaviour. We will spare no effort to identify the culprits and deal with them with the full force of the law.” The incident began after the SCDF was alerted at 9.25pm to a road accident in Little India. In a statement, SCDF said that a man was trapped under the bus when its officers arrived on the scene and a paramedic pronounced the man dead. While SCDF rescuers were extricating the body using hydraulic rescue equipment, “projectiles” were thrown at them, the statement said. Eye witnesses told TODAY that they heard shouting before a crowd that had gathered at the scene started hurling bottles and rubbish bins at the police and SCDF vehicles. The crowd became more rowdy and threw more items including metal grates, baskets, vegetables and pieces of road dividers at law enforcement personnel. Several police cars were overturned and five vehicles - three police vehicles, an SCDF ambulance and a motorbike - were burnt. In total, five police vehicles and nine SCDF vehicles were damaged. A press conference was held after 2am at the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean, who was flanked by Second Home Affairs Minister S Iswaran, Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee and Deputy Police Commissioner T Raja Kumar. Mr Teo, who visited the scene with Mr Iswaran after the riot was brought under the control, noted the riot started after a crowd reacted to the fatal accident. “The Government will not tolerate such lawless behaviour. I have asked Police to deal with all aspects of the incident, including the traffic accident, what happened immediately after the traffic accident, and all ensuing incidents,” he said. “Police will investigate the matter thoroughly and deal with all the persons involved strictly, firmly, and fairly according to our laws.” Noting that this was the first case of street rioting in three or four decades, Mr Ng said that in the days ahead, the authorities will pay “extra attention” to Little India as well as foreign worker dormitories and areas where they congregate. The police deployed 300 officers - from the Special Operations Command and the Gurkha Contingent - to quell the riot and no shot were fired, said Mr Ng. The situation was brought under control within 1.5 hours. Twitter and Facebook were abuzz over the incident, with witnesses posting photos and videos, leading Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin to write on his Facebook page: “Stay calm. Don’t speculate. Singapore Police Force is on the ground. This is not a game. Nor time for politicking. Our guys are on the line. Support them please.” Throughout the riot, the police also advised the public to stay away from the area. One eyewitness told TODAY he saw an ambulance arrive and paramedics attempt to extract the man who was pinned under the coach. When they were unable to, the crowd became incensed and began throwing things at the ambulance, shattering the windscreen. Ms Faith Su, 31, who was at her relatives’ home near Race Course Road, said she heard the commotion around 9.45pm, when crowds began swarming around the coach, shouting and throwing things. “The situation escalated into a riot, there was overturning of the police cars that had arrived, and it looked like one of them caught fire and it was burning. Things only settled down a bit after the riot police arrived. I (could) still smell the smoke (around 11pm).”

Sunday, January 13, 2013

I had sex on sofa with my students , so what?

Professor Tey : I had sex on sofa with my students

THE sofa in his office was in a rich shade of red. It was where law professor Tey Tsun Hang allegedly had sex with Miss Darinne Ko Wen Hui, now 23, twice.

In statements to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), however, Tey had also alleged that he had sex with another female student on that two-seater sofa.



Yesterday, he told the court that the statement was "a false confession" and was made under "harsh treatment".

Tey named her in court when he was making an application to the court for her examination transcript.

Tey told the court that he had made a statement to the CPIB which said he had "corruptly extracted sex" from her.



The statement also said that he had taken a number of personal items from the woman, who graduated in 2009.

Clad again in a lawyer's robe while standing in the dock, Tey is defending himself, with his solicitor, Mr Peter Low, advising him.

The name of another former student was also mentioned in court yesterday.

But there were no details on the nature of the relationship between Tey and the man, who graduated in 2010.

The names of both former students were raised during Tey's application for their complete four-year result transcript and the raw marks and grades of their Directed Research thesis, which they took under Tey.

These applications were part of 44 requests for disclosure of information that Tey made to the court at the start of the proceedings yesterday, which kept Miss Ko, the prosecution's first witness, off the witness stand for more than half the day yesterday.

The other requests are also related to the grades of Miss Ko and two other students from her cohort.

One of them includes a male student whom Miss Ko called her "best friend" several times on the first day of the trial on Thursday.

That student is also listed as a prosecution witness.

These applications by Tey were not new - he had earlier made criminal motions for documents from NUS, the public prosecutor and Alexandra Hospital to the High Court.

But two of the motions were dismissed by Justice Quentin Loh in late September.

A criminal motion is an application for a court order, specifically in a criminal proceeding. Documents obtained via the court order could potentially be used as evidence in a trial.

In response to Tey's renewed request for the woman's grades yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Andre Jumabhoy said that Tey "knows fully well that there are no charges for this count".

He also said that how Tey had acted towards the woman is irrelevant for the purpose of this trial.

He also raised the issue that the "constant repetition against CPIB can and should be properly made to the officers when they come to the court to give evidence".

Among the 44 things that Tey asked for are the grades, examination booklets and ranking of Miss Ko in various subjects for various academic years.

'Waste of time'

Towards the end of the morning's proceedings, Mr Jumabhoy said the applications by Tey were "a complete waste of time".

Chief District Judge Tan Siong Thye also told off both parties, saying the whole morning had been "wasted on unnecessary things" which should have been sorted out earlier.

"Why are you wasting our time," the judge asked Tey.

The prosecution argued that the information Tey asked for isn't relevant to the trial and that he has been given the documents he is entitled to.

Tey said: "I take strong objection to my learned prosecution's remarks that it is a complete waste of the court's time.

"It is tantamount to saying that the defendant has financial position to waste on counsel's speed."

chaihyn@sph.com.sg