SINGAPORE, June 7 (The Straits Times/ANN): A pleasant catch-up over dinner between previous mates took a darkish flip once they heard a woman crying for assist at Ulu Pandan Park Connector late into the evening of Feb 2.
Vinodh Rajendran and Ramizah Banu Abdul Rahman responded swiftly and noticed a person pinning the woman down as he tried to get on high of her.
When the person noticed them, he tried to flee.
Vinodh managed to apprehend him after a five-minute chase. Meanwhile, Ramizah known as the police, who later arrested the person for outrage of modesty.
Vinodh, 31, a chef at North London Collegiate School, stated: “I was more shocked than anything when I realised what was happening. Singapore is supposed to be safe and yet such a horrible crime was happening in front of me.
“What caught with me most was how grateful the girl was. She was crying and she instructed me that if we hadn’t been there, she would have simply given in.”
Vinodh and Ramizah were two of six recipients who received the Public Spiritedness Award on Tuesday (June 7) for their contributions to public safety.
Another recipient, Mohamed Subhan, 38, a loss prevention officer, was commended for noticing and nabbing a shoplifter at Cotton On in VivoCity.
Subhan, who was off-duty, was shopping with two friends on Dec 23, 2021, when he saw a man looking furtively around in the ladies’ section before slipping a pair of sandals into his haversack.
He waited for the shoplifter to leave the store before confronting him. He then told the man to follow him to Cotton On’s staff office. The man was later arrested for shoplifting.
“I used to be fairly calm after I noticed it occurring as a result of I’ve seen so many of those shoplifting cases occur in entrance of my eyes over my 15 years as a loss prevention officer,” said Subhan.
Vinodh and Subhan were presented with plaques at a ceremony at Clementi Police Division by its commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) Marc E.
Ramizah did not attend the ceremony.
The other recipients were Benedict Ng Sheng Chao, who intervened in an altercation between a man who was denied entry into a hawker centre and a safe distancing ambassador, and Alagar Ravi and Lim Wei Hao, who assisted the police in theft cases.
AC Marc E said at the event: “Crime is extra seemingly solved, and criminals are extra seemingly deterred, if public spiritedness is powerful and widespread.”
Three organisations received the Community Partnership Award for their collaborative efforts in crime prevention. They are Shopee, FairPrice and Resorts World Sentosa, which assisted the police in various security operations and scam-fighting efforts.
Mr Winston Goh, 38, head of marketing at Shopee, said: “Our partnership with the police is essential to us as a result of we’re key gamers in Singapore’s e-commerce market, so we need to ensure that our prospects are educated about these scams.”
Meanwhile, Singapore reported 4,477 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the whole tally to 1,325,623.
Of the new cases, 337 cases have been detected via polymerase chain response (PCR) assessments and 4,140 via antigen fast check (ART), in line with statistics launched by the Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 325 have been native transmissions and 12 have been imported cases. Among the ART cases with delicate signs and assessed to be of low threat, 3,976 have been native transmissions and 164 have been imported cases.
A complete of 267 cases are at present warded in hospitals, with eight cases in intensive care models.
One extra affected person has died from issues attributable to Covid-19 an infection, bringing the loss of life toll to 1,394, the ministry stated. – The Straits Times/ANN