<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Senior CPIB officer on trial for hurting China suspect
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Khushwant Singh
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A SENIOR anti-graft officer who allegedly flung a plastic file at a suspect he was interviewing told a court yesterday it was actually his shoe that hit her.
It was entirely an accident, Neo Siong Leng, 33, claimed through his lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan.
That day in January last year, as Neo was interviewing Ms Lin Yanmei - a 41-year-old Chinese national - he was wearing his father's shoes, which were a size too big.
As he kicked something, the shoe flew off his foot and hit her in the face, giving her a 2cm long cut on her lip, Mr Anandan told the court.
The lawyer said he intended to show the court how this happened.
Neo, 33, a principal senior investigator with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), has also been charged with hurting Ms Lin's knee that same day when he kicked a table which hit her leg.
He has been suspended from duties on half pay since last November.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Samuel Chua told the court that Neo was questioning Ms Lin on suspicion that she had entered into a marriage of convenience with a Singaporean, Mr Chan Hon Kwan.
At 11pm, two other officers in the CPIB building heard a woman screaming. When they entered the room where Neo was with Ms Lin, they saw blood on her lips and on her blouse. They took her to the Singapore General Hospital.
Two days later, Ms Lin lodged a report at the Clementi police station, claiming to have been assaulted by a CPIB officer during an interview.
Photographs were taken of her injury and the plastic file was seized.
About a week later, police checked Neo's office and seized seven pieces of tissue paper, one of them bloodstained. Ms Lin also handed over the clothes she wore on the day of the alleged assault.
The police seized Neo's shoes the following month, but forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority who examined it detected no blood or DNA on them.
They testified yesterday that the bloodstains on the tissue paper and the plastic file were Ms Lin's.
The court was also told that investigations into the alleged marriage of convenience had ended with the couple being given a stern warning by the CPIB.
Five days have been set for the trial, which continues today.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Khushwant Singh
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A SENIOR anti-graft officer who allegedly flung a plastic file at a suspect he was interviewing told a court yesterday it was actually his shoe that hit her.
It was entirely an accident, Neo Siong Leng, 33, claimed through his lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan.
That day in January last year, as Neo was interviewing Ms Lin Yanmei - a 41-year-old Chinese national - he was wearing his father's shoes, which were a size too big.
As he kicked something, the shoe flew off his foot and hit her in the face, giving her a 2cm long cut on her lip, Mr Anandan told the court.
The lawyer said he intended to show the court how this happened.
Neo, 33, a principal senior investigator with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), has also been charged with hurting Ms Lin's knee that same day when he kicked a table which hit her leg.
He has been suspended from duties on half pay since last November.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Samuel Chua told the court that Neo was questioning Ms Lin on suspicion that she had entered into a marriage of convenience with a Singaporean, Mr Chan Hon Kwan.
At 11pm, two other officers in the CPIB building heard a woman screaming. When they entered the room where Neo was with Ms Lin, they saw blood on her lips and on her blouse. They took her to the Singapore General Hospital.
Two days later, Ms Lin lodged a report at the Clementi police station, claiming to have been assaulted by a CPIB officer during an interview.
Photographs were taken of her injury and the plastic file was seized.
About a week later, police checked Neo's office and seized seven pieces of tissue paper, one of them bloodstained. Ms Lin also handed over the clothes she wore on the day of the alleged assault.
The police seized Neo's shoes the following month, but forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority who examined it detected no blood or DNA on them.
They testified yesterday that the bloodstains on the tissue paper and the plastic file were Ms Lin's.
The court was also told that investigations into the alleged marriage of convenience had ended with the couple being given a stern warning by the CPIB.
Five days have been set for the trial, which continues today.
