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Man found dead in church compound
By Mavis Toh
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110105/ST_IMAGES_MVMARY06.jpg
Police officers removing the man's body yesterday. The case has been classified as unnatural death, but no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
A MAN was found dead yesterday morning in the compound of the Church of St Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok.
He was lying on a grass patch near a row of classrooms and a children's playground and had facial injuries. His white T-shirt was stained with blood.
The police said they were called at about 10am. Paramedics who arrived shortly after confirmed the death.
The man's identity has not been released, but he was 29.
Police have classified the case as unnatural death; no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.
The Straits Times understands the church does not employ security officers, although it has surveillance cameras, footage from which has been handed to the police. It is understood no weapons were retrieved at the scene.
The church gardener is said to have found the man, who is not believed to be a member of the congregation.
When The Straits Times visited yesterday, police had cordoned off parts of the church, along with the void deck of a block of flats opposite it.
Block 287 is separated from the church by a road and a footpath running alongside the church's anti-climb fence.
Investigators were seen photographing a drain beside the fence in the church compound and a bushy area behind the grass patch where the body was found. Some parts of the void deck of Block 287 were dotted with blood.
Most residents said they did not know anything was amiss until they saw police cars in the church compound. A fourth-floor resident said he was woken after 11pm on Tuesday by shouting.
'It sounded like men shouting, but I didn't bother to check it out,' he said.
Stall-owners in the market opposite the church also said they were unaware of what had happened.
Meanwhile, activities in the church went on as usual. Father John-Paul Tan, the church's parish priest, said he heard nothing on Tuesday night, although he lives in the church compound.
'It's sad that a person has lost his life and we seem to be hearing of quite a number of incidents of violence in our society,' he added.
Members said the church opens its gates at 6.30am and locks up at 10.30pm daily; its weekday masses are at 6.55am and 6.30pm. Mr Ernest Tan, a 62-year-old retiree, said it has two main gates - one near the market and the other near a bus-stop - and is relatively quiet on weekdays.
By Mavis Toh
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110105/ST_IMAGES_MVMARY06.jpg
Police officers removing the man's body yesterday. The case has been classified as unnatural death, but no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
A MAN was found dead yesterday morning in the compound of the Church of St Mary of the Angels in Bukit Batok.
He was lying on a grass patch near a row of classrooms and a children's playground and had facial injuries. His white T-shirt was stained with blood.
The police said they were called at about 10am. Paramedics who arrived shortly after confirmed the death.
The man's identity has not been released, but he was 29.
Police have classified the case as unnatural death; no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.
The Straits Times understands the church does not employ security officers, although it has surveillance cameras, footage from which has been handed to the police. It is understood no weapons were retrieved at the scene.
The church gardener is said to have found the man, who is not believed to be a member of the congregation.
When The Straits Times visited yesterday, police had cordoned off parts of the church, along with the void deck of a block of flats opposite it.
Block 287 is separated from the church by a road and a footpath running alongside the church's anti-climb fence.
Investigators were seen photographing a drain beside the fence in the church compound and a bushy area behind the grass patch where the body was found. Some parts of the void deck of Block 287 were dotted with blood.
Most residents said they did not know anything was amiss until they saw police cars in the church compound. A fourth-floor resident said he was woken after 11pm on Tuesday by shouting.
'It sounded like men shouting, but I didn't bother to check it out,' he said.
Stall-owners in the market opposite the church also said they were unaware of what had happened.
Meanwhile, activities in the church went on as usual. Father John-Paul Tan, the church's parish priest, said he heard nothing on Tuesday night, although he lives in the church compound.
'It's sad that a person has lost his life and we seem to be hearing of quite a number of incidents of violence in our society,' he added.
Members said the church opens its gates at 6.30am and locks up at 10.30pm daily; its weekday masses are at 6.55am and 6.30pm. Mr Ernest Tan, a 62-year-old retiree, said it has two main gates - one near the market and the other near a bus-stop - and is relatively quiet on weekdays.
your god is deaf , cannot hear him shouted for help .
