The 64-year-old man accused of murdering a coffee shop helper in Lorong 23 Geylang was taken to several locations in the area by the police yesterday morning.

These included the spot where the alleged murder took place, and a hardware shop where Toh Sia Guan is believed to have bought the murder weapon.

Toh allegedly killed Mr Goh Eng Thiam, 52, between 7.30am and 8am on July 9 along Lorong 23.

Fatal fight in Geylang

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

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

The victim was found dead on the road with a deep cut from his left ear to the top of his head.

A wooden stick and a bloodied knife were lying nearby.

Toh arrived in Lorong 23 Geylang in a white unmarked van just after 10.30am.

Dressed in a red polo shirt and a pair of navy shorts, he had restraints on his wrists and ankles.

Showing little emotion, he walked down a stretch of the road flanked by two plainclothes police officers.

He was heard speaking to investigators softly in Hokkien as he recalled the sequence of events.

At times, he paused to gesture at several locations, including the spot where a fight allegedly broke out between him and the victim.

Police officers also took him to the alley next to the Victoria Food Court coffee shop at the junction of Lorong 23 and Geylang Road, where Toh is believed to have seen the victim from a distance.

Police investigators were also spotted noting down the escape route that Toh had allegedly taken after committing the crime.

About half an hour later, they went to a hardware shop in Lorong 25, where Toh is believed to have bought the murder weapon.

Toh led police to an aisle inside Budget Value, pointing to a basket of fruit knives stored on the lower shelf.

Each knife was priced at $2.90 with the blade measuring about 15cm.

He also showed them where he bought a pair of yellow slippers costing $4.90. A slipper had been found near the crime scene.

Close to noon, Toh was taken to a back lane next to Lorong Bachok.

He then led police investigators along the shophouses in Lorong 17 to a green trash bin, where he had supposedly thrown his clothes away.

It is understood that he ran to Lorong 3, about 1km away, after that.

Toh’s case is due to be mentioned tomorrow.

If convicted of murder, he faces the death penalty.

This article was first published on July 28, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Spectra Secondary School is using an unusual method to deliver its Character and Citizenship Education programme to students.

It is using horses in what is called Equine-Assisted Learning Therapy, or Equal, run by non-profit group Equal-Ark Singapore.

Equal – which is usually a 16-session programme – aims to help young people work through emotional and behavioural issues through interaction with horses.

It is offered to vulnerable youth through the Ministry of Social and Family Development, voluntary welfare organisations and some Ministry of Education schemes.

Two other programmes run by the group are Equal Scholar-Lite and Equal Scholars, which are more intense and of longer duration. They add on extensive community engagement, with Equal Scholars providing school and job support services for youth and persons with disabilities who are not in education, employment or training.

For Spectra Secondary, Equal was adapted into its curriculum for all Secondary 2 students.

The therapy is based on the belief that horse-human interaction helps facilitate therapeutic and learning outcomes.

It works by allowing students to interact closely with the horses, which includes experiencing how to lead, groom and even shower the animals.

For example, the theme of respect is explored by allowing the students to interact with a few free-roaming horses in a riding arena. This takes place at the National Equestrian Park in Jalan Mashhor, where Equal-Ark has access to a block of 16 stables, an arena and classrooms.

Stable Emotions

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times

The students try to guide the animals with hand gestures and body language. Sometimes the horses respond, and sometimes they do not.

Questions are then posed to the students: “How did it feel when the horse did not respond? What did or did not feel respectful?”

After the session, students are asked to reflect on and relate their experience to real-life scenarios both at school and at home.

Equal director Desmond Wong says the equine environment is an effective and novel platform for rehabilitation, with the group seeing 600 beneficiaries every year.

Horses, he says, are “very sensitive to social cues. As such, they provide direct feedback to a youth’s emotions and internal state. This helps the facilitators identify and process key issues in a safe space.”

Mr S. B. Sivaganesh, the head of department of student development at Spectra Secondary, says that as a result of the therapy, “students are more empathetic towards the needs of their classmates”.

“They are also more accommodative and respectful in their daily dealings with their schoolmates”.

Spectra Secondary student Zulfaqar Norani, 15, was in the Equal Scholars programme last year while with the Singapore Boys’ Hostel.

This year, he is back with his Secondary 2 classmates at Spectra Secondary as a mentor alongside Equal Therapy facilitators.

He was reluctant to go back to school initially, but after the Equal Scholars programme, he decided to enrol in Spectra Secondary again to complete his N levels.

Mr Wong said: “When Zul first came in, he was quite withdrawn and indifferent but, over time, he developed a strong sense of empathy.

“He became, in some ways, a pro-social role model to his peers. The fact that he chose to go back to school was very encouraging to his peers in Equal Scholars.”

This article was first published on July 28, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Time has run out for establishments here that have shisha tobacco on the menu to phase it out and find other business models.

From Monday, they will have to stop serving shisha.

Shisha was banned in November 2014, but the authorities allowed existing retailers and importers to sell it until July 31 this year.

However, many of them say shisha was their main offering and that they have not been able to find other sustainable models.

Thus, they say, it is the end of the line for them, too.

The Ministry of Health had said in a press statement, when shisha tobacco was banned, that the grace period was to allow retailers “ample time to deplete their stock and restructure their business away from shisha”.

However 18 out of 20 cafes and restaurants contacted in the Kampong Glam and Boat Quay areas said the non-shisha models they tried have not worked well.

When The Straits Times visited last Friday, two licensed restaurants were selling shisha: Derwish Turkish Restaurant in Bussorah Street and the Sahara Restaurant in Boat Quay.

MOVING ON, WITHOUT SHISHA ON THE MENU

Twelve out of 14 restaurants that have depleted their stock of shisha tobacco in the past year said they lost about 60 per cent of their customers after they stopped providing it, while the remaining two put their loss at about 90 per cent.

Mr Esad Sedjic, 46, who owns four restaurants including Sahara Restaurant in Boat Quay, said: “I tried to restructure my business model, focusing on Mediterranean cuisine and expanding the menu, but it has been unsuccessful, as our patrons come solely for shisha.

“I have already put up two of my restaurants on sale. After the end of July, I will have to reconsider continuing business at Sahara as well.”

Mr Mahmoud Mohamed, 28, who owns Elhalal Restaurant in Haji Lane, is another proprietor planning to sell his business soon.

When he stopped selling shisha 15 months ago, his customer numbers dropped drastically.

“The business is not profitable for me any more,” he said.

While many cafe owners lament the ban, some, such as the owner of Derwish Turkish, Mr Mohamad Salim, 35, agree with its rationale.

He said: “Before, this area used to see many underage smokers, lower seating capacity and fights breaking out regularly.

“Now, I see more families and children frequenting the area, and it is peaceful here.”

Mr Salim has used the two years since the ban to restructure his business.

He closed two other restaurants he owned and focused on improving the menu and building a family-friendly ambience at his remaining establishments.

He said: “What we need now, is more tourism in the area. There should be events and festivals for people to experience the spirit of Kampong Glam and to change the fixation around shisha smoking.”

The owner of Blue Jaz Cafe in Bali Lane, Mr Jose Villanueva, 45, has also taken the ban in his stride.

“After we stopped selling shisha in December, we saw a dip in business, but we managed to sustain it.

“The sale of shisha tobacco is not our bread and butter.”

Besides selling food and beverages, Blu Jaz Cafe now also hosts more events such as birthday parties and corporate events.

One patron at the Sahara Restaurant, who wanted to be known only as Ms Pang agrees with the ban.

The 27-year-old sales executive said she had smoked shisha regularly for five years, and wanted to stop.

She said: “Perhaps, the ban in Singapore will be the catalyst for people like me to quit the habit.”

18

18 out of 20 cafes and restaurants contacted in Kampong Glam and Boat Quay said non-shisha models they tried have not worked well.

60 per cent

Twelve out of 14 restaurants that have depleted their stock of shisha in the past year said they lost 60 per cent of customers after they stopped providing the product.

90 per cent

The remaining two out of 14 restaurants that have depleted their stock put losses at 90 per cent.

This article was first published on July 28, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Lawyer N. Srinivasan, 49, was taking a walk along Punggol Point Jetty on Sunday morning when he witnessed a dramatic collision between a small fishing boat and an Outward Bound School (OBS) boat.

The impact caused the fishing boat to flip in the air and overturn. The 70-year-old boatman, Mr Toh Kia See, who was seated at the back of the vessel at that time, was flung overboard, Mr Srinivasan told The Straits Times yesterday.

Mr Srinivasan, who said he has an interest in boats, was observing the OBS boat as it arrived at the jetty at about 7am to drop off a few staff members.

“As (the OBS boat) was going back to Pulau Ubin, it started to speed and, a few seconds later, it hit the back of the fishing boat, crashing directly into the boatman,” he said.

“The fishing boat flew up and it came down, and the boatman couldn’t be found. At that point, I thought he was dead.”

Mr Toh was later taken to Changi General Hospital, where he remains warded in the surgical intensive care unit.

He suffered fractures to his head and hip bone, and possible injuries to his spine and ribcage, said Mr Srinivasan, who visited him in the hospital on Tuesday.

“His condition looked serious. He was conscious, but he couldn’t talk or move,” he said, adding that Mr Toh had to be put on a ventilator as he had breathing difficulties.

Mr Toh’s daughter declined comment when The Straits Times visited the hospital yesterday.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore yesterday said it was notified of the accident at about 7.20am on Sunday and its vessel was sent to the scene immediately to carry out investigations.

A spokesman for the National Youth Council (NYC) said that staff from OBS had rescued the boatman and provided immediate first aid. OBS is a division under the council.

In a statement yesterday, a council spokesman said it is in close contact with the boatman’s family to offer “any assistance to support them”.

The spokesman said: “NYC and OBS take a serious view of operational safety and are working with the relevant authorities to ensure a thorough investigation.”

Mr Srinivasan said the OBS boatman, who looked to be his 30s, had pulled into the jetty earlier, about 3m away from him. He left soon after and no one else was on board the boat at that time.

When he saw the two boats collide about 20m away from the jetty later, Mr Srinivasan’s first instinct was to alert the Police Coast Guard nearby.

Mr Toh was brought back to the shore lying on the back of the OBS boat and groaning in pain, he said. The OBS boatman suffered cuts on his knees.

Mr Srinivasan said he made the trip to the hospital on Tuesday hoping to give the family his account of the incident, saying: “The truth must be told.”

He added: “He’s a superman to survive this.”

This article was first published on July 28, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.