It was a typical afternoon at Northpoint Shopping Centre until what seemed like a scene from a horror story shocked shoppers and workers there.

A young man, his clothes drenched in blood, was seen stumbling out of a toilet. He collapsed in front of a foodcourt, alarming the people around him.

What followed were shouts and calls for help. Several people ran to his side, talking to the man in the hope of getting a response.

“He did not speak, but the up and down movement of his abdomen told me he was still alive,” said Madam May Wong, 51, an employee of Chen Kang Wellness, a massage parlour near where the man collapsed yesterday afternoon.

She had been on her phone when she heard a thump. When she turned towards the sound, she saw a man lying motionless on the ground, and ran towards him with several other colleagues.

Blood had soaked through his green T-shirt, and his arms were also bloodied, she said in Mandarin.

“He looked like an NSF boy. Very young. My heart hurts just thinking about it,” she said.

The man has not been identified, but the police told The Straits Times he is 20 years old. He sported the crew cut common to full-time national servicemen (NSFs).

Employees of nearby shops said they did not see anyone running from the scene.

The man had collapsed in front of the Cantine foodcourt on the Yishun mall’s third floor around 1pm.

Kopitiam, which operates Cantine, said the incident did not happen in the foodcourt.

A spokesman said the man had come out of the toilet before collapsing in front of the foodcourt.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at the mall at 1.22pm, and dispatched an ambulance.

The man was found in a semi-conscious state and taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

The Straits Times understands that he had multiple injuries.

According to another employee of Chen Kang Wellness, there were no visible stab wounds on the man’s abdomen when SCDF officers lifted his T-shirt.

The 38-year-old witness, who declined to be named, said most of the blood had collected near the man’s neck.”It seemed like there was a gash there,” he said.

A spokesman for Frasers Centrepoint Malls, which manages Northpoint Shopping Centre, said the police cordoned off the area for about an hour, during which patrons were redirected around it.

“We continue to work closely with the police to support their investigations,” she said.

Pictures of the youth’s bloodied body went viral on social media, prompting speculation that a murder or stabbing had occurred.

But police said preliminary investigations suggest that it may have been a case of attempted suicide.

This article was first published on Aug 13, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Singapore – Singapore exploded in celebration Saturday after homegrown swimming hero Joseph Schooling beat US legend Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly in Rio to win the tiny republic’s first ever Olympics gold.

The 21-year-old Asian champion set a new Olympics record of 50.39sec as he edged out his American idol Phelps, who ended in a sensational dead heat for silver alongside South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan, who was in Rio to cheer Team Singapore, led an outpouring of congratulations for Schooling, whose mixed European and Asian heritage has resonated in the immigrant society of 5.5 million people.

“It is an incredible feat, to compete among the world’s best, stay focussed, and emerge victorious,” Lee said in a Facebook post.

Schooling will receive S$1 million for his gold medal as part of a programme aimed at encouraging studious Singaporeans to excel in sport.

Schooling pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Rio, interrupting the 31-year-old Phelps’ quest for what would have been his fifth gold in Brazil and 23rd Olympic gold in his career.

The American phenomenon, who insists he won’t be back for a sixth Olympics, has a shot at one more gold in Saturday’s 4x100m medley, before retiring as the greatest Olympian of all time.

Schooling meet Phelps when the US Olympics swim team was visiting Singapore in 2008, and the American helped inspire the young Singaporean to move to the United States for extensive training. Schooling is now based at the University of Texas.

Singaporean social media erupted in celebration as Schooling won in Brazil, as cheers broke out in public housing estates, where most Singaporeans live. Many people had woken up early to watch the event live.

“Finally! We have done it at the grandest of stages!” Jayarethnam Pillai wrote on the prime minister’s Facebook page.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, Reuters, AFP

Schooling’s father Colin, who hosted a viewing party at his home in Singapore, wept when his son won the medal.

“If I cry in front of all of you all, it’s because I have nothing to be ashamed of,” he told reporters.

“My love for my son is nothing I can describe to you all.” In 2014, Colin Schooling dismissed stubborn speculation that his son was a “foreign talent” because of his surname – declaring that Joseph, a third-generation Singaporean, was a true son of the republic.

A programme to import sporting talent into Singapore has proved controversial, despite helping the country to win medals in regional and international competitions.

Chinese-born female table tennis players who were naturalised by Singapore won a team silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and an individual bronze in London 2012.

Singapore’s first Olympics medal was won by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang, who bagged a silver in Rome in 1960.