Based on the ST report reproduced below, it would seem that the
priority of the police is to catch the guilty and not to prevent
crime or murder. Have they lost their senses?
27 Oct 2005
Eyewitness to a tragedy
JALAN BUKIT MERAH MURDER
Retiree Liew Meng Choon, 65, was sitting in his usual place at the
top of the staircase at the end of a short path from Block 132,
Jalan Bukit Merah, when he witnessed the tragic events unfold on
Tuesday evening
6pm: He sees the 26-year-old wife coming out of a taxi. She appears
normal, talking into her mobile phone, but then goes to the coffee
shop to use the public phone. The conversation is short, about 40
seconds, and she then goes up to her flat.
She knocks on the door of her second-storey flat and her husband
lets her in. Shortly after that, an argument breaks out between the
couple. Neighbours told Mr Liew later that they heard the woman
crying out for help.
..............
8.45pm: The wife's boyfriend calls the police. He tells them
that
she has sent him an SMS asking him to call 999 as her life is
in
danger. He tells the police she is in Block 132, Jalan Bukit
Merah,
but fails to give the unit number.
9pm: The first team of police officers arrives and goes door
to
door. When the officers reach the second-floor unit, they see a
man
armed with two knives sitting in the living room.
Officers see a handbag and a woman's shoe but no sign of the
woman.
When the man notices them, he threatens them and slams the door
shut.
The police then try to persuade him to put down the knives and
to
let them in, but fail. Singapore Civil Defence Force officers
are
then called in to climb up to the windows at the rear of the flat
to
prevent him from escaping.
The Special Operations Command is also called in. By this time,
the
crowd of onlookers is more than 200-strong.
10pm: Police officers cut the lock of the metal gate with
special
cutters but do not attempt to break down the door. Instead,
police
negotiators are called in and, in line with police strategy,
the
man's relatives are quickly found and taken to the unit to
persuade
the man to give up.
12.40am: After the man's sister and mother fail to persuade him
to
open the door, his son and daughter, who have been playing around
the
staircase landing, are asked to try to get him out.
Crying pitifully, their pleas work and the man opens the
door.
Police rush in and find his wife strangled to death in the
bedroom.
