> Man hit maid then jumped

A MAN barged into his wife’s flat, bashed up their Indonesian maid and later plunged 17 floors to his death.

Chen Xiangli had called the police a minute before he leapt from his bedroom window that he had planned to to kill his wife, Madam Lydia Chen Xiu Jin, 30, who had taken out a domestic exclusion order against him.

The order granted in February forbade the 41-year-old gas delivery driver from entering their Eunos Crescent home to harm her.

Madam Chen also had a personal protection order against him in 2004.

The dramatic events leading to his death fall was revealed by investigation officer, Staff Sergeant Kamaruddin Nasrun, of Bedok police division, at an inquiry into his death on Friday.

Staff Sgt Kamaruddin said the couple’s Indonesian maid Susanti, 29, was awakened by noise coming from the outside of the flat at about 5am on April 29.

Chen was cutting the padlock, and when she opened the door, the maid saw that his face was red and he was reeking of alcohol.

About half an hour later, a tenant called police that someone was in his landlord’s room and he heard a woman scream.

When police arrived, Chen told them the situation was under control.

Chen ran back into his room when the tenant tried to take the hammer tucked behind Chen.

After police entered the flat, Madam Chen and her daughter ran and sought cover behind the officers.

They knocked on the bedroom door and told Chen to calm down and come out but he told them to leave, or else someone inside the bedroom would die.

On learning that Ms Susanti was in the bedroom with Chen, the Singapore Civil Defence Force was activated. They were told to place an airbag on the ground floor and to prepare a team to repel form the upper floor.

At 6.30am., Chen called 999 and said he wanted to kill his wife. Then he jumped out of the bedroom window. Ms Susanti later emerged, bleeding from her head.

Chen, who had left a suicide note in the company lorry, died shortly later in Changi General Hospital.

State Coroner Victor Yeo recorded a verdict of suicide.

> Foreigners arrested in underaged sex raid

Pedophile suspects (from right), American Robert Roy Lond, British Malcolm Henry Payne, British Robert Alexander Horsman and German Fritz Dieter Battener sit during a police news conference in Bangkok, Thailand Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008. Thai police arrested two Britons, one American and one German at a Thai beach resort town for alleged sexual abuse of young boys, police said.--PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANGKOK – TWO Britons, an American and a German were arrested on Thursday in a Thai beach resort town for alleged sexual abuse of young boys, in an investigation linked to a British child pornography network, police said.

Police Maj. Gen. Chaiwat Ketworrachai said police worked on the case in cooperation with the British-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center.

The four men were arrested at their homes in Pattaya, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Bangkok, and were charged with sexually abusing children under the age of 15, he said.

He identified the suspects as Britons Malcolm Henry Payne, 59, and Robert Alexander Horsman, 45; American Robert Roy Lond, 62; and German Fritz Dieter Battener, 66. Police did not release the hometowns of the arrested men.

If found guilty, the men could face up to 20 years in jail.

‘There are at least two boys in each case. We cannot give more detail before the cases are filed to the prosecutors,’ Chaiwat said.

Mr Chaiwat said the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center had provided police with a list of 50 suspected pedophiles who might be in Thailand.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Naga, was triggered when the center uncovered a British online child pornography network with links to Thailand, he said.

‘This operation and these arrests demonstrate the value of the relationship between CEOP and the Royal Thai Police,’ CEOP Chief Executive office Jim Gamble said in a statement.

‘The UK and Thailand may have different legal systems and law enforcement practices, but we share a clear, joint commitment: to prevent harm to children.’

Several Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, are popular with pedophiles due to lax law enforcement, corruption in the justice system and poverty that forces children into prostitution.

A number of high-profile suspects have been caught in Thailand, including Christopher Paul Neil of Canada, who was arrested last year after an Interpol manhunt sparked by some 200 Internet photos showing him allegedly abusing Vietnamese and Cambodian boys. — AP