Straits Times News 1: Snatch thief tracked down through his sweaty shoe
I just read the newspaper today, saying that a snatch thief was arrested after the police traced him by the DNA of the perspiration in the shoe he left behind at the crime scene.
The DNA of perspiration in shoe matched his sample provided a year later when he was convicted of another theft.
LIKE Cinderella, Mohamed Ali Abdul Ghani fled in a hurry, leaving not a glass slipper but a shoe behind.
Unlike Cinderella, there was no fairy-tale ending for the 35-year-old snatch thief, who had grabbed a purse from a 25-year-old woman in August last year.
He had escaped despite being pursued, but did not get away.
The perspiration from the sole of his foot, left in his shoe, was what did him in.
Police who arrived took away the shoe, had the sweat tested and obtained Ali's DNA profile.
Every individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is easily obtained from blood, saliva, skin and semen, has a unique fingerprint.
But even then, the police had to wait more than a year before they could find the man.
In the meantime, Ali had been arrested for another theft, convicted and jailed for 10 weeks in July. As a convicted criminal, he had to submit a body sample to be included in a national DNA database that helps the police solve crimes.
His profile matched that obtained from the shoe, and Ali.
He is not the first criminal nabbed here with the help of DNA profiling.
In 2005, a 39-year-old man was jailed for eight years and caned six times after he killed a woman who had provoked him. The police tracked him down from DNA samples on 10 cigarette butts found at the woman's home.
Scientists say it is extremely difficult to erase these telltale bits of generic information. Even washed clothings retain enough semen and blood stains for forensic identification of who it beongs to.
Under the law, anyone who is under arrest, detention or police supervision will have body samples taken for DNA profiling, along with photographs, fingerprints and particulars.
My thoughts after reading this article:
Wow! This is my 3rd Christmas as a Christian, and each year i learnt and experienced this season differently. Still remember my first Christmas as a christian, i was still serving in the army. I spent the Christmas night watching 'Passion of Christ' movie in the bunk with my fellow instructors. Being a new believer then, I didn't know about bringing in spiritual conversation at that time, but i remembered all of us, christians and non-christians were so impacted by the graphics, loss of words.
This year, I was involved in the planning of the Christmas party. There were times when i really felt stretched by the work and alone in my family. In my mind, I was thinking and asking God when will i have a peaceful Christmas, whereby i can walk along the cool streets with my jacket, watching carols, stop by some coffee place and ponder on the things at the back of my mind over coffee. Thank God that I re-visited the meaning of Christmas and the reason for serving. I asked myself what does God wants me to do as a Christian during this festive season. I re-aligned myself to God, and gained greater understanding and joy of serving God and serving people who came for the party on that day. I realised that for a christian, all the more we should grasp this opportunity to share to people boldly, what Christmas is all about. Thank God for the National Council of Churches in Singapore, for bringing together a series of programmes and performance by various church groups - dance, choir, band, acapella... outside Tangs plaza, PS, Paragon... There was one night where Qiao Ping, Ian & myself sat down outside Tangs to watch the performances for 2 hours. I felt so blessed by the groups and the atmosphere of love and peace was really in the air. The hosts even share a bit here and there about God's love and the sacrifice of Jesus so that we can have eternal life, proudly proclaim the glory of God to the huge crowd there.
Through this Christmas, I have learnt more about what it means to serve God, joy thru serving, and what it means to celebrate Christmas as a christian. It is a big lesson i learnt from this season.
The year is coming to an end, perhaps we can take time to record down such experiences (things which we had made sense of) we had in our walk with God this year. Time to stock check our journey, before we step into the brand new year 2008.
On 9 December, i went to Ubin with my church brothers and sisters and friends to cycle and visit Chek Jawa. We went there by bumboat $2 one way, and rent a bicycle.
(Wei Qiang, Simin, myself on the bumboat to Ubin)
(the 3 of us & 2 friends we made on the bumboat!)
Although the weather was not perfect (drizzling) when we reached Ubin, but thank God that we still manage to make our way to Chek Jawa.
(birds on the bicycle)
(on the way to Chek Jawa)
Background of Chek Jawa Wetland Reserve
Chek Jawa was a nationally threatened intertidal mud and sand flat ecosystem located on the eastern coast of Pulau Ubin. What makes Chek Jawa so special is not only because of its rich marine biological diversity but also the impressive wide expanse of its mud and sand flat.
In 2001, many environmental groups in Singapore voiced out their concerns on the decision by the Ministry of National Development to reclaim Chek Jawa under the Concept Plan 2001. According to the plan, there will be a road connecting mainland to Ubin and Tekong. However, thank God that the Government decided to push back the plan. Ever since then, this eastern part of Pulau Ubin has been under public's attention.
In 2006 December, due to the heavy rains, Chek Jawa was once closed from the public access. This was because the freshwater rains upset the wetlands' saltwater balance, resulting in the widespread death of marine creatures such as sea anemones, seastars and sponges. During this period, the wetland was allowed to recover from the damage.
In 2007, the Singapore Government has also added a 1.1km boardwalk, a 20m tall viewing tower and a visitor centre with a viewing jetty. The new boardwalk running along the coast and into the mangrove area allows visitors to get up close to plant and marine life such as fiddler crabs and mudskippers and monitor lizards, without damaging the area.
On that day, the 50 of us was divided into 2 groups and i was the 'tour-guide' of one of them.
Prior to the trip to Chek Jawa, Shuyi(the other guide) and I went forth to vigorously read up on Chek Jawa, its history and also the interesting characteristics of the species that thrive in this part of the ecosystem. Thank God for a brother Kok Sheng who met up with Shuyi and me to brief us on how best both of us can enhance the experience at Chek Jawa. He is really passionate in sharing to us about God's wonderful creation.
We went to the National Library @ Bugis to watch documentaries on Chek Jawa and mangroves in Singapore. For examples : Channel News Asia - 'Living Treasures'. Both of us, being life science students, we wanted to know more, so we also borrowed some books to read up for the trip the next day.
Pray that he will do well for his UROPS project on Chek Jawa! Thanks bro for the tips!
To continue the trip, we went up to the Jejawi 20m tower, overseeing the mangroves and to Tekong 'chalet' at the far opposite side..
(on the 20m tower, we took many breaths of air)
(noticed that i didn't say FRESH AIR... cos acutally in the mangrove area, there are many bacteria and micro-organisms living in the mud, and they produce hydrogen sulphite, giving a unique smell to the mangroves.)
(my tour group photo under the shelter along coastal boardwalk.)
(at the visitor centre)
I really enjoyed myself that day, serving the people around that day, being the first-aider, the bicycle chain repair man, and the Chek Jawa tour guide wanna-be. Really want to go there again...
