He has trained wolves, hyenas, pumas, otters, raccoons, owls, civets and snakes as part of his job at the Night Safari.

Now Mr Wesley Paul, 36, is about to take on dogs. And he will be training them for a much bigger task than just being good pets at home.

The Guide Dogs Association of the Blind announced earlier this week that Mr Wesley will be the first Singaporean cadet to be sent for a guide dog training course in Australia.

The course, which will span 18 months, is set to make him the first Singaporean guide dog mobility instructor.

He said: “I’ve worked intensely with animals for over seven years.

“It sounds like a short time, but I spent close to 15 hours with them every day and learnt the ins and outs of their character traits.

“I think that has definitely prepared me for this upcoming course and I am excited to see what it will take to become a guide dog trainer,” he told The New Paper in an interview yesterday ahead of his stint at Guide Dogs Victoria, the largest breeders and trainers of Guide Dogs in Australia.

Singapore now has only one guide dog instructor, Ms Zara Linehan, a 35-year-old Briton who moved to Singapore in 2014.

Before that, guide dog owners had to travel overseas to be trained together with the dogs under the supervision of an instructor, because training was not available here.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Mr Wesley said: “I took this up because I love working with animals.

“Knowing that those skills as a trainer can come in handy for a good cause made taking this up a simple decision for me,” he said.

“The change in environment will be the biggest challenge.

“It is a different country with different climate and conditions. Those conditions can act as distractions for the animal and can impact the training, so I’ll have to get accustomed to the new challenges and find a way to overcome the hurdles.”

Guide Dogs Association general manager Vanessa Loh said that the training Mr Wesley will go through will be essential. She said they have a constant waiting list of clients who need guide dogs.

“We either fly trainers to Singapore or a visually impaired person and a dog to Australia,” she said.

And it can be costly.

Sending a team costs over $10,000 and flying a trainer in costs the association $200 an hour.

Mr Wesley’s training will help the situation.

Also, she told The New Paper that Mr Wesley passed the practical rounds of his interview with flying colours.

“One of the rounds is for the candidates to guide a visually impaired person in folding origami.

“We noticed that Wesley didn’t take over and get the origami folded. Instead, he continuously empowered them and guided them to fold it on their own.”

“It proved that he is a very good communicator,” she said.

Mr Wesley added: “I feel so privileged to be chosen from the pool of candidates, and I can’t wait to get this show on the road.”

About 20 people were vying for the job.

crobert@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 2, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.

He was working at the bottom of a shaft at a sewer project worksite at Maxwell Road when disaster struck.

Equipment hoisted by a nearby crane suddenly slipped from the lifting slings and tumbled into the shaft, hitting and killing the 30-year-old Malaysian at the scene on Thursday.

He was the 42nd person to die in a workplace accident this year, up from 29 in the same period last year.

The New Paper found out about this tragedy from a media release sent out by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday.

PRESSURE

The release also stated that national water agency PUB is the developer of the construction project while the main contractor is Transbuild Engineering.

The inclusion of such details appears to be a new move by the MOM to keep the public updated on such cases.

The move to name the parties involved could put pressure on companies to pay closer attention to safety, and possibly slash the number of workplace deaths.

President of the National Safety Council of Singapore Ameerali Abdeali welcomed the move.

He told TNP: “The safety performance of a company should not be a secret. I hope that this measure will incentivise companies to do everything possible to raise the standards of safety in their workplaces.”

However, executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics Jolovan Wham felt that naming and shaming errant companies will not be effective in stemming workplace deaths.

He said: “Our workers are still being exploited. No matter how many penalties are put in place, the numbers of workplace fatalities are still going up, year after year.”

When asked about what more can be done, Mr Wham said: “We need the general public to talk to their MPs about these issues.

“We need to debate more and have more in-depth discussions about workplace safety in Parliament.

“These cases are often under-reported as people are afraid to lose their jobs. Many unsafe worksites and practices are also unreported for the very same reason.”

MOM said that it has stopped all work at the affected worksite.

Responding to queries from TNP, the PUB said it is helping MOM and the police with their investigations into the unnatural death.

This article was first published on July 2, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.

As she prepared popiah for her customers, she did not notice a man creeping up behind her.

Suddenly, Ms Noraisha Abdul Rahman, 44, felt a sharp object pierce her abdomen twice, followed by excruciating pain.

Blood gushed out, and she collapsed as a colleague screamed for help.

Her attacker was familiar to her – a man who had been courting her despite being rebuffed repeatedly.

Security guard Taib Saleh, 66, was jailed for 28 months on Wednesday for stabbing Ms Noraisha at her stall in a Kopitiam foodcourt at VivoCity on Feb 26.

He had been obsessed with Ms Noraisha and the court heard that he was suffering from a major depressive disorder.

Recalling the attack, she told The New Paper on Thursday: “I don’t know how to describe the pain, but it hurt so much.

“All I could think of was my daughter and how I would never see her again.”

‘Spurned suitor’ stabs popiah seller at VivoCity

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Madam Yuliana, The New Paper, Stomp

Ms Noraisha said she met Taib 10 years ago when they were both working in the security line.

They met again in 2014 when Taib bought food from her stall and they exchanged phone numbers.

Taib started texting her once a week and would ask about her daily activities.

She always replied, under the impression that they were just friends.

She said: “He has a wife and two children, and he is older than me by 22 years. I thought nothing would happen.”

But late last year, Taib started visiting her twice a week at the stall where she worked.

His text messages also became suggestive as he kept hinting he wanted to have sex with her, she said.

She said: “That was wrong, he is a married man and I never did see him that way.”

Ms Noraisha stopped replying to his texts as she tried to distance herself from Taib.

But his messages, calls and visits continued.

Earlier this year, she got her older sister and younger brother to tell Taib to stay away.

“I kept telling him I could never be his girlfriend and my siblings tried to tell him that too,” she said.

But she said Taib continued to visit her at her workplace and text her.

On Feb 26, the day of the attack, she texted him several times to stay away.

She believes those messages could have sparked the attack that afternoon.

After Taib stabbed her on the left side of her abdomen, her co-worker screamed, but Taib stabbed her again.

Ms Noraisha slumped onto a chair as her blood spurted on the floor.

“There was so much blood at that point, I could not even think. I thought I was going to die,” she said.

Mr Larry Liem, 40, an off-duty officer of the Singapore Police Force who was in the foodcourt, managed to disarm Taib.

Ms Noraisha was taken to the Singapore General Hospital, where she had to be resuscitated because of her abnormally low blood pressure.

Her left kidney was removed during surgery.

She also has a 15cm scar running down her stomach.

PAIN

Even today, she still feels a lot of pain and has yet to return to work.

She said her long absence from work has taken a toll on her family’s finances.

Although her medical bills are covered by a social welfare organisation, she is worried about her rent and utilities.

Ms Noraisha, a divorcee, said she now depends on her 19-year-old daughter, who works in administration, to provide for the household.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Social and Family Development told TNP that its officers had reviewed Ms Noraisha’s case and found that “her household income is sufficient for her family to cope financially”.

When asked about Hari Raya Aidilfitri next Wednesday, Ms Noraisha said she will not be inviting anyone to her home.

“How can I? Since the incident, I can’t even do anything. I regret ever talking to him.”

This article was first published on July 2, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.

Expect the cost of private parking in shopping centres and office buildings to go up as well, soon after higher public parking rates kick in at the end of the year.

Industry insiders say private carpark operators peg their fees to public rates and would raise them in tandem with the coming hike.

On Thursday, it was announced that short-term public carpark charges will rise by 20 per cent from December.

Outside of the restricted zone (RZ) in the city area, parking will cost $1.20 an hour, up from $1.

Within the RZ, parking will cost double that – at $2.40 an hour, up from $2.

But in many areas, this will bring public carpark rates in line with private charges.

For instance, weekday parking at the Ang Mo Kio Hub costs $1.30 an hour – only 10 cents more than the new public rate.

At the Raffles City shopping mall, rates are priced at $2.20 an hour on weekdays before 6pm, which would be lower than the public rate of $2.40 per hour.

When The Straits Times contacted building developers, and private carpark operators Wilson Parking, Secure Parking, G Tech and Top Parking, most said they were studying the increased public charges closely.

A CapitaLand spokesman said it regularly reviews carpark rates at its malls, adding that these rates are set after “taking into consideration the rates at surrounding carparks as well as demand and supply”.

A source at one major carpark operator, who did not want to be named, said: “We will have to match the increase; if it’s too cheap, too many drivers will come in and there will be too much demand.”

He added that private carparks can afford to charge a premium as most of them are indoors and motorists do not have to worry about exceeding their parking time and being fined.

Another industry source said private operators were waiting to see if there was an adverse public reaction towards the hike. “But if the Housing Board goes ahead with the increase, we will just follow the leader,” he said.

In 2002, when public parking prices were last hiked, private operators raised their fees too.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority and HDB said last week that the latest fee revision was necessary to recover costs, as building, operating and managing costs for carparks have increased over the years.

Associate Professor Michael Li, a transport economist at Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Business School, said it was a given that the private sector would increase their rates by a quantum similar to that of the latest rise in public parking charges.

He added that costs would also have increased for these private operators.

“Everyone will follow when the Government takes the lead,” said Prof Li.

dansonc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 2, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

The Magistrates’ Court in Negeri Sembilan has acquitted a man and his Singaporean son of causing the death of an armed robber last year, in a case that sparked a debate on self-defence.

The case involving Mr Moo Wee Keong, 29, and his Malaysian father Moo He Hong, 57, ended 16 months after they were charged with the murder of Mr Chan Boon Poh.

In March last year, the charges against the father and son were reduced to death by negligence.

Both men were granted bail.

The incident occurred in the wee hours of Feb 24 last year, during the Chinese New Year period, when the robber slashed Madam Kuek Soo Lan, 52, a Sin- gaporean and mother of the younger Moo, outside her house in Negeri Sembilan.

Her husband, who was parking their car, knocked Mr Chan to the ground with a pipe.

Father and son beat up the man before taking Madam Kuek to a nearby clinic.

Mr Chan was later found dead, reportedly tied up with rope.

Man and son face the gallows over robber’s death

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Sin Chew Daily/ANN, Shin Min Daily News, China Press

But the younger Moo said he and his father had not tied the man up.

Madam Kuek had earlier told The Straits Times that police said Mr Chan had died from “chest injuries probably caused by multiple blows to the area”.

The attempted robbery left Madam Kuek with slash wounds on her left arm and fingers, which required 25 stitches.

According to the defendants’ lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, Magistrate Mahyun Yusof said yesterday in her ruling that she was satisfied the prosecution had failed to prove a case against the accused.

The judge acquitted and discharged both men of recklessly causing the death of the robber.

ltrinna@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 2, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.