He was going to take a toilet break from working at his mother’s stall at Haig Road Market and Food Centre on Sunday afternoon.

But what greeted Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) national serviceman Hamka Afiq, 19, was a sight he described as “scary”.

“When I entered the toilet, I saw a man in his 30s lying on the floor. His skin was bluish purple, and white bubbles and foam were forming on his mouth,” Mr Hamka told The New Paper.

“I was very shocked, because it was my first time coming into contact with a casualty, and his skin was very blue.”

A police spokesman confirmed that they received a call for assistance at the food centre at 5.24pm on Sunday.

When they arrived, the police found a 34-year-old man lying motionless.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Mr Hamka said there were two or three friends of the dead man inside the toilet when he walked in.

He said: “One of his buddies was crying and was on the phone, saying ‘your brother died’ to someone.

“As a lifesaver, I wanted to help. But looking at his body, it was totally stiff already, and I could tell he was a gone case.”

He left the toilet after one of the dead man’s friends asked those not related to the deceased to leave, as the toilet was getting crowded. Mr Hamka noted that he saw a small syringe in the dead man’s left hand.

An elderly toilet attendant told The New Paper he’d seen the man walk in, but after noticing that he had not come out for a long time, he went in to find the man.

‘ALL COLD’

“I touched his body and it was all cold.”

The attendant declined to describe what he saw around the body. He said he saw the man a few times each week, drinking beer and hanging around with his friends.

A man, who gave his name as Dan, told TNP that he was friends with the dead man, whom he had known as Omar for three years.

He said he was at the food centre when the incident happened, and he was alerted to the body by the toilet attendant, prompting them to call the police.

Dan said Omar usually hung out with him and a few other friends to eat and drink beer at the food centre, but did not know what happened to him.

He said: “For the past 10 months or so, he’s not been acting normal. He’s been very quiet, didn’t want to talk or drink with anyone else.

“The last time I saw him was on Saturday afternoon. I called him out for a drink, but he didn’t want to go with me.”

Police are investigating the case as unnatural death.

This article was first published on Aug 02, 2016.
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The tip of shipyard worker V. Anbazhaga’s right index finger is missing. It was crushed by some falling metal last September, when the 57-year-old from India was at work.

The mangled fingertip had to be amputated. But an orthopaedic practice at a well-known private hospital gave Mr Anbazhaga only one day of medical leave and three months of light duties.

His boss never reported the injury, he said. Nor were there any light duties available, and he soon found himself on a Special Pass, unable to work. He has now engaged a lawyer to pursue injury compensation.

The issue of errant doctors not giving injured workers enough medical leave has come under the spotlight again, after the top court said it would come down hard on such offenders in judgment grounds released last Wednesday.

In May, the court suspended Raffles Hospital orthopaedic surgeon Wong Him Choon, 51, for six months, following an appeal by the Singapore Medical Council.

In 2011, Dr Wong had operated on construction worker Fan Mao Bing’s broken hand, but gave the Chinese national just two days’ medical leave and certified him fit for light duties for a month after that.

Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang wrote in the grounds: “It should not be the case that a patient has to ‘kneel and beg’ (as the patient in fact did, according to Dr Wong) for medical leave that he was in any case entitled to on proper clinical grounds.”

Migrant worker groups applauded the stern stance, saying it was a long-overdue step taken to address a widespread problem.

The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) is planning to file complaints against at least four more orthopaedic surgeons. It first filed the complaint against Dr Wong in 2011 on Mr Fan’s behalf.

Social worker and former Home executive director Jolovan Wham said the group sees a few dozen such cases every year, and the doctors involved are usually from private clinics and hospitals.

Mr Wham said if the worker receives a medical certificate (MC) of three days or less, or was hospitalised for less than 24 hours, the employer need not report the accident to the Manpower Ministry (MOM).

He can keep his safety record clean and also avoid higher insurance premiums in the future.

Said Mr Eric Lee, outreach coordinator at migrant worker community clinic Healthserve: “These doctors take instruction from the employers because they are the paymasters.”

Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) treasurer Alex Au estimated that one in four of the injured workers they helped has received insufficient MCs.

TWC2 committee member Debbie Fordyce said she has seen cases where workers recovering from serious injuries were kept on site and given light tasks.

One had had a craniectomy – surgery to remove part of his skull – but was told to dispense equipment to his colleagues. Another, whose leg had been crushed by a forklift, was left in an office but was “too sick to even sit”.

Dr Andrew Chin, head of the Singapore General Hospital hand surgery department, said doctors should check if light duties are available at the patient’s worksite and of what variety. “Under any circumstances if they are not available, or if the doctor is in doubt, then medical leave should be given.”

Hand surgeon Andrew Yam, who has treated injured foreign workers for over a decade, suggested that MOM require all injuries be reported, and not just those with more than three days’ MC.

Companies’ safety records should be affected instead by the level of permanent incapacity rather than the number of days’ MC.

Employers, however, may have their own problems with managing injured workers.

Singapore Contractors Association (SCAL) executive director Lam Kong Hong said: “For every story like (Dr Wong’s), there’s another story of workers who take advantage of employers by hopping from one clinic to another, getting MCs extended, or undertaking operations for $10,000, $20,000 that the employer only finds out about later.”

While the court’s judgment may spell more adequate rest for injured workers in the future, it is too late for Mr Fan, who has since returned to China. Mr Wham said they had lost touch with him. “He may never know that he won.”

1. Last September, worker V. Anbazhaga’s finger was crushed. The fingertip had to be amputated (left). An orthopaedic practice at a private hospital gave him only one day of medical leave and three months of light duties.

2. In 2011, orthopaedic surgeon Wong Him Choon operated on construction worker Fan Mao Bing’s broken hand, but gave the Chinese national just two days’ medical leave and certified him fit for light duties for a month after.

3. If a worker receives a medical certificate of three days or less, the employer need not report the accident to the Manpower Ministry. He can keep his safety record clean and also avoid higher insurance premiums in the future.

This article was first published on August 2, 2016.
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A man has loads of fun in an Ikea store in Australia, wandering around the showroom looking for product names to make Singlish puns with.

A video of his adventure was shared by Cool Singapore Bureau, a Facebook page by community website All Singapore Stuff.

It has been viewed more than 9,000 times since it was posted on Facebook on Monday (Aug 1).

In the video, the man with a Singaporean accent goes shopping at Sydney’s Ikea store and makes Singlish puns with the names of Ikea products.

“You all ‘algot’ buy meh?” He asks at the start of the clip.

Ikea’s Algot is a shelf that comes with a bracket.

“Ikea got a lot of ‘variera’ (variety) of furniture,” he says in another part of the video.

Variera is the name of an Ikea dish drainer.

He also cautions naughty children against touching items in the store.

“You better not anyhow touch, if not mummy will ‘skold’ you.”

Ikea’s Skold is a sheepskin rug.

This is not the first time someone has made puns using the names of products by the Swedish furniture store.

Last year, a video featuring a man annoying his girlfriend with endless puns went viral.

It has been viewed nearly 10 million times since it was posted on YouTube in August 2015.

xiuhuil@sph.com.sg

In the wee hours of last Oct 6, a police officer offered a $2 note to a man who did not have small change to buy a drink at a vending machine outside the Bukit Timah Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC).

The man had cuts and scrapes on his forearms and seemed disoriented. The needle of an intravenous drip was attached to his right hand, and his left wrist had a hospital identification tag.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Azri Aldrin Lim Teck Guan struck up a conversation with the man, Philippe Marcel Guy Graffart, which led to a shocking confession.

“I have done something bad to my son. I have done something really bad to my son,” said Graffart.

When the police went to his 32nd-storey apartment at D’Leedon Condominium at Leedon Heights, they found five-year-old Keryan Gabriel Cedric Graffart lying motionless in the master bedroom.

The boy was pronounced dead at 6.17am.

Yesterday, Graffart, 42, pleaded guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The High Court heard that the Belgian expat was depressed over an ongoing custody battle with his French wife over Keryan when he smothered the sleeping boy with a cushion between 9pm and 10.17pm on Oct 5.

Graffart then cradled his dead son in his arms and cried. He told him that he “was going to join him” and left the room.

Graffart then tried to kill himself by speeding down the Marina Costal Expressway and deliberately crashing his Audi sedan into the tunnel wall after releasing his seat belt.

But he escaped with minor injuries after the airbags deployed.

Read also: Maid found boy dead when police arrived

HE CALLED POLICE

After he was taken to Singapore General Hospital, he called the police twice about the accident, but then left before they arrived.

Graffart went home where he contemplated other forms of suicide, but did not act on it, said court documents.

Around 4am, he went to Bukit Timah NPC where he met ASP Lim.

The court heard yesterday that on the afternoon of Oct 5, Graffart became distressed after receiving an unexpected affidavit from his wife’s lawyer through his lawyer, Ms Poonam Lachman Mirchandani.

The affidavit was about Keryan’s care and custody proceedings, and contained transcripts of discussions between Graffart and his wife, Ms Theodet Gwendoline Cecile Anne, 40.

Graffart felt betrayed and accused his wife of divulging their private discussions to her lawyers.

He also faced mounting pressure about his next course of action in their custody battle.

Court documents said that shortly after the unexpected affidavit, Graffart, who was head of Asia Pacific fund distribution at Nordea Bank, thought about suicide but resisted it after thinking of his son.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, Shin Min Daily News, Lianhe Wanbao, Facebook screengrabs, The New Paper

In a series of e-mails to his lawyer, Graffart wrote: “I can’t continue like this, I am so tired and don’t know what to do. I am so afraid to lose my son or the relation (sic) I have with him.

“I want to find a way out and be cleaned of all this past (sic). I made such big mistakes I will not do anymore. (sic)”

The couple’s 2011 marriage broke down in early 2014. They decided to separate but could not agree on custody matters regarding their son.

On the evening of Oct 5, Graffart did a number of Google searches on his phone – one on how long it took to suffocate a person and another on whether one could survive a crash at 150kmh.

After putting Keryan to sleep, Graffart pressed a cushion on the boy’s face and suffocated him.

An autopsy report stated that the boy had bruises and abrasions on his forehead and face.

Read also: There were marks on neck of boy found dead in condo

A toxicology report found Zolpidem – a hypnotic medicine used to treat insomnia that is not recommended for children – in Keryan’s blood.

A psychiatric report by the Institute of Mental Health said Graffart was suffering from major depressive disorder which had substantially impaired his thinking process and judgment of his acts, leading to the death of his son.

The initial charge of murder was later amended to the lesser offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Graffart, who faces jail of up to 10 years, a fine and caning, is expected to be sentenced on Aug 22.

This article was first published on Aug 02, 2016.
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Driverless taxis are set to hit the ground as early as 2018, taking passengers on short trips on demand.

Yesterday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) inked deals with UK-based Delphi Automotive Systems and local start-up nuTonomy that will make such self-driving vehicle (SDV) services a reality.

The LTA and JTC yesterday also launched an SDV research centre and a circuit, where driverless vehicles can be tested under traffic conditions. The circuit will be open to industry players to develop their own offerings, with an eye on the future.

“Although many countries and cities are testing self-driving vehicles, we have yet to see international standards and regulations suitable for large-scale deployment of SDVs,” said Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo.

The centre and circuit could help Singapore develop such standards and put SDVs on its roads, she said. “It’s also a significant step towards realising our vision of SDVs being used for first- and last-mile connectivity in our towns.”This is part of the Government’s push towards a car-lite Singapore, which will include driverless shuttles and pods filling in the first- and last-mile part of journeys – taking passengers to and from homes and MRT stations or to nearby amenities like malls.

“Hopefully, this will reduce reliance and demand for privately owned vehicles,” said LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong.

Also, at a time when it is hard to find bus captains and truck drivers, the concept could address manpower constraints, said Mr Chew at the signing ceremony for the agreement. And if self-driving freight and utility vehicles could ply the roads in the dead of night, there would be less congestion during waking hours.

NuTonomy expects to have a limited commercial service by 2018 with up to 75 vehicles available in certain areas, with services rolled out islandwide by 2020.

The start-up, which has been testing driverless vehicles at one-north since April, said that it expects to use electric vehicles which can go for up to 150km before requiring a recharge.

“We expect it to be much cheaper than normal taxis,” said nuTonomy co-founder and chief technology officer Emilio Frazzoli.

Delphi services vice-president Glen W. De Vos said the firm now has six vehicles, but expects to have a fleet of 40 to 50 by 2022. He added that its service will have “competitive” fares.

Experts said driverless vehicle services will be a useful addition to Singapore’s transport system, but it will be a challenge to have them on such a scale in just a few years.

SIM University adjunct associate professor Park Byung Joon said currently, such vehicles have been tested only in areas with light traffic, and not on busy city streets.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der Horng said safety is still a concern.

This article was first published on August 2, 2016.
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