Accused left his DNA behind Sat, Nov 12, 2011 | The New Paper By Zul Othman INVESTIGATORS have discovered the DNA of four unknown men in the rented room of Filipina Roselyn Reyes Pascua, who was stabbed to death in March last year. Testifying at the murder trial of Indian national Gopinathan Nair Remadevi Bijukumar yesterday, forensic scientist Kee Koh Kheng said that DNA were found in two used condoms and among eight pieces of tissue paper in the room. Also retrieved at the scene were traces of Gopinathan's DNA, said Ms Kee. These were found on Ms Pascua's denim hot pants, pink lacy brassiere and the inside of a brown wallet found between the headboard of the bed and the wall, she added. The accused's blood was also found on a sanitary pad left on the dressing table. Ms Pascua was stabbed 10 times in the chest and abdomen, once in the neck and twice in the groin. The body of the 30-year-old, who is believed to have worked here as a prostitute while on a social visit pass, was found lying in a pool of blood in a room at Peony Mansion in Bencoolen Street, in the early hours of March 15 last year. Yesterday, two officers from the Criminal Investigation Department's Special Investigation Section also took the stand. Station Inspectors (SIs) Woon Song Hwee and Shaiful Ali Abdul Rahman testified to arresting Gopinathan on March 17, two days after Ms Pascua's body was discovered. The officers arrested the accused at the Farrer Park MRT station at 4.03pm. Gopinathan tried to resist the officers and fell. He had a cut above the eye as a result, said SI Shaiful. During cross-examination, defence counsel Shashi Nathan said his client tried to flee because he did not know the two men were plainclothes police officers. Instead, he thought he was about to be robbed. SI Shaiful replied: "I showed him my police warrant card and identified myself as a police officer." During a search conducted after the arrest, officers found three bloodstained notes on Gopinathan. Also found in his possession: About $370 in cash and three mobile phones - one of which belonged to Ms Pascua. A Western Union receipt for a transfer of $777.08 to India was also uncovered. The transfer was carried out on the day of his arrest. Deputy Public Prosecutor Eunice Ng later said this was a notably large amount. Normally, Gopinathan remitted less than $200 to his family in Kerala each month. The court was not told how he acquired the money. What is known, however, is that the shipyard worker earns $320 monthly. A colleague at Pan Greatways Engineering, Mr Prasad Varavara, told the court that Gopinathan came here in 2007. The former was a friend of the accused's uncle whom he knew while he was a welding supervisor in Dubai. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Prasad said in Malayalam: "He worked seven days a week and each day, he earned $16." To earn extra cash, Mr Prasad said Gopinathan would work overtime, earning $3 each hour. "He is a quiet man...an average worker who comes from a very poor family in Kerala," the witness added. Gopinathan did not deny stabbing Ms Pascua, but claimed he was provoked as he and the deceased had traded blows on the day of the incident. On Tuesday, the prosecution showed the court still images taken from a security camera showing Gopinathan entering the lift of Peony Mansion with Ms Pascua at about 7.10pm on March 14. He was seen leaving the nine-storey apartment block alone nine minutes later. Gopinathan, 36, is accused of murdering Ms Pascua sometime between 7pm and 8pm that day. She was stabbed in the neck, chest, abdomen and groin with a "tool with a sharp cutting edge". The fatal blow came from a stab to the chest, which plunged 10cm deep, cutting through the left lung before penetrating the heart. The weapon was never recovered. He faces the death penalty if found guilty. The hearing continues today. zothman@sph.com.sg This article was first published in The New Paper.

  1 3 'Don't keep things bottled in' Sat, Nov 12, 2011 | The New Paper She manipulated her teenage lover to kill her husband in 2008, and was sentenced to nine years' jail. Rosnah, 26, had been unhappy with her husband, a pub deejay whom she claimed physically abused her. (All names have been changed to protect their identities.) Her husband had also been in jail, leaving her to fend for herself and their two sons. So she confided her woes to Jamal, a 16-year-old bartender in a pub she used to work in. Rosnah, who was then 24, said: "One day, I couldn't take it any more, I burst out crying in front of (Jamal). "I just said I wished that my husband were dead. I said it out of anger and depression because of what I'd been through." Jamal took her at her word. She then manipulated him into believing that an ex-boyfriend was willing to kill her husband, and marry her. Fearing he would lose her, Jamal asked Rosnah to give him some time to plan the murder. Rosnah said she would love him for the rest of his life if he succeeded. At 3.30am one day, they went to Rosnah's flat after work. She went in alone and called her husband, who was at work, to ask when he would be back. She relayed this information to Jamal, who was lying in ambush at the lift lobby with a Swiss army knife. When her husband appeared, Jamal stabbed him in the back and neck, threw the penknife into a canal and took a taxi home. A neighbour, who found the victim's body, called the police. The next day, Rosnah confessed and the lovers were arrested. Since Jamal was under 18, he was ordered to be detained indefinitely under the President's pleasure. His conduct and progress will be reviewed periodically, and when found suitable for release, a recommendation will be made to the President, who may then direct the release. Not in mental control A psychiatrist testified that Rosnah was suffering from a mental ailment and was not in full control of her mental faculties when she committed the offences. Asked what advice she would give women in abusive marriages, she said: "Talk to people who can help you. Don't keep things bottled inside you because when they explode, you don't know what will happen."

My mum was treated like a slab of meat Sat, Nov 12, 2011 | The New Paper SOMEONE had wrongly put a tag on her that said "do not resuscitate". So when Mrs Immacolata Lacovara, 74, started gasping for air, the nurses just stood by and watched until she died. Mrs Lacovara's case is among the 16 harrowing tales released in a damning report on Britain's National Health Service. The report was released by charity group Patients Association, which said that these cases come from among the thousands it gets on its helpline, and called for tough action against hospitals' neglect of the elderly. Other cases involved elderly patients left starving, thirsty and in agony after being denied drug relief, reported the Sun. Mrs Lacovara's son Matt told the Sun: "They stood back and watched my mother die in the arms of my helpless father. "My beautiful mother was treated with no dignity or respect. Instead, she was treated like a slab of meat." The report comes just weeks after one in five hospitals was found to neglect elderly patients so badly that they broke the law. Patients Association chief Katherine Murphy said: "The accounts of care in this report shame everyone involved." This article was first published in The New Paper.

A teenager and his 40-year-old neighbour gang-raped an underaged girl in a lorry. The case came up in Court on Friday and the teen is expected to be sentenced on 12 December, pending a probation report. If convicted, the teen could be jailed 10 years, fined, or both. The case against the 40-year-old neighbour, Hang Tuah Jumaat, will come up for mention in January next year. The 17-year-old teenager studies in the same school as the underaged girl and is her ex-boyfriend. Hang Tuah Jumaat is believed to have instigated the crime by asking the teen to invite the girl for drinks one day in April 2010. On the day of the incident, Hang Tuah Jumaat drove his company lorry to Sungei Kadut, then change to a larger lorry and drove the two teens to a road near Kranji Camp. He then plied the girl with orange juice mixed with strong alcohol, causing her to become intoxicated and drowsy. Hang Tuah Jumaat then asked the teen to have sex with the girl, but the teen declined and went to sleep. When the teen woke up, he saw Hang Tuah Jumaat having sex with the girl. The teen was again told by Hang Tuah Jumaat to have sex with the girl and this time he did. The Court heard that the girl's eyes were closed and she appeared intoxicated throughout. Hang Tuah Jumaat then drove the teen and the girl back, but left the girl sleeping in the lorry when she complained that she could not get up. The girl later went to school where she was referred to a counsellor, and a police report was made. On the same day, the teenager was detained in school where he admitted to the offence. Court documents revealed that he claimed he was high on heroin at the time of the incident and had acted out of fear towards Hang Tuah Jumaat. Source: Lianhe Wanbao, 11 November 2011. Click here for the Chinese report. Recommended: Bus accident in JB injures 25 Hookers try new tactics in... Which employees are the... Leave a comment 20 comments

Another body in Bedok Reservoir brings body count to 6 in a year: What's going on? Posted on 05 Nov 2011 The body of a Chinese male was found in Bedok Reservoir this morning (Sat, Nov 5) at around 9.15am after police received a call informing them of the body. Police said they received a call at 9.15am informing them of a body, believed to be a Chinese male, in the waters of the reservoir. Paramedics pronounced him dead at around 9.45am. Police have classified the case as an unnatural death and are investigating. This is the 6th body fished out from the now-notorious Bedok Reservoir, where just two weeks ago, on Oct 25, the body of an elderly woman in her 50s was found floating in the waters. On Oct 10, an Indian man's body was found at Bedok Reservoir. On Sept 22, the bodies of a mother and son were seen floating in the reservoir. On June 22, the lower half of Mr Lin Xiao's body was found floating in the water by a PUB employee. And in October last year, the body of an unidentified man was found at the top of a hill in Bedok Reservoir Park.

We all want a handsome guy or a beautiful woman for a partner, but when true love comes along, physical appearances don't really matter anymore. STOMPer Zerocool, who sent in these pictures, said: "Just take a look at these odd couples. They are not exactly fairytale couples, unless we're thinking of Beauty and the Beast. "But somehow, true love (or the love for money for some) has brought them together. "In fact, they remind me of another odd couple -- a beautiful girl and her not-so-pretty boyfriend -- who were harshly criticised by netizens for their incompatibility."

  Stolen wedding album returned 17 years later Thu, Nov 10, 2011 | AFP LONDON - A wedding album which went missing when a caravan was stolen in Northern Ireland 17 years ago has mysteriously reappeared at the home of its owners. Nigel and Gillian Stewart had long given up hope of seeing their wedding photographs which were inside the caravan when it was stolen, but on Tuesday the album was left at the gate to their home in a plastic bag, the BBC reported. "I thought I was seeing things," the BBC quoted Gillian as saying this week. "I was absolutely stunned. Speechless." The couple recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and the album's reappearance at their home in Gilford, County Down, has been a revelation for their children. "It's lovely for the children - they only know their dad with grey hair," Gillian joked. She said she was extremely grateful to whomever gave the photographs back and wonders all over again who it was that stole the caravan, but added that she bore no grudges. "You needn't be a bit afraid to come forward to me, because I bear no grudges. The past is the past, the future's the future," she said. "I would just love whoever it was to come forward, so I could thank them in person."