The difference between ‘brush’ & ‘touch’

THE Coroner’s Inquiry into 14-year-old Benjamin Lim’s death began yesterday (May 17) with CCTV footage being played that apparently showed the teenager touching the back of an 11-year-old girl’s thigh. Benjamin’s father said he saw his son only “brush at the area of the girl’s skirt”. The State Counsel said it was up to the coroner to decide if indeed there was contact.

The second question in court had to do with whether it was the school or Benjamin’s mother who decided he should be pulled out of school camp on the same day he was taken to the police station and arrested.

The school said it had merely suggested Benjamin stay home. His mother said the school had insisted rather than suggested that he not go. About five minutes after Benjamin is told he can’t go to camp, he locks his bedroom door and falls through the window.

To learn more about what happened in court yesterday, read our full report here. More to come.

Indonesians will no longer work as live-in maids from as early as next year. The government wants its domestic workers to live apart from their employers, work regular hours and get days off like everyone else.

The move is part of Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s plan to professionalise informal employment. In Singapore, there are about 125,000 maids from Indonesia; those who are already here and wish to stay with their current employers can continue to do so.

In a first for the industry, a property agency was ordered yesterday by the Council for Estate Agencies to pay $74,000 for sweetening an en bloc offer to four home owners of Thomson View Condominium in 2013.

HSR International Realtors was found to have breached its duty as advisor and created a conflict of interest by offering “incentive payments” of more than $548,000 in exchange for them backing the collective sale. Typically, it’s the agents that get penalised, not the entire agency.

A few final quick updates: Mr Zainal Sapari said yesterday that other complaints might have been made about the faulty lift in Block 247, Pasir Ris Street 21. A 77-year-old resident died on Monday after toppling out of his mobility scooter while exiting the lift. Mr Sapari is Member of Parliament for the estate.

Parkway Parade will continue to be shut for the next few days as the mall carries on repairs to its fire protection system. A fire broke out in the mall on Sunday.

Singapore’s first Zika patient has fully recovered and was discharged yesterday. The unidentified 48-year-old man tested positive for the virus last Friday after developing a fever and rash following a visit to Brazil.

 

Featured image from TMG file. 

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