Be wary of strangers - Molest incident

Just received a letter from our resident manager titled "Incident of Molest at Viz @ Holland" dated 15 November 2012.

There was a recent incident whereby a female resident was molested at the HDB Access Gate on 6 Nov 2012 at about 7pm. A police report has been made and the cops are investigating the matter. The Management is looking into installing additional lighting at both access gates.

The following advice are provided to all residents:

• Be alert and mindful of strangers loitering at or near the access gates, especially when you are entering or leaving the estate.
• If you see any suspicious strangers, contact the management office or security staff at 64793143 immediately.
• Do not open or hold the gate for the next person to enter the estate, especially if you are not sure if s/he is a resident or not.

Being a regular visitor to the hawker centre and shops at Commonwealth Crescent, we were really shocked to hear the news. As regular users of the HDB gate will know, the area is not well lit at night, it is a long and narrow pathway from our gate to the stairs leading down to the HDB estate (and the hawker centre), creating a potential 'choke point' where a resident is sandwiched between the gate and the molester. There are also people who like to sit at the metal chairs at the bottom of the stairs.

I know in previous posts I suggested various shortcuts to Holland V (through Chip Bee Gardens). In light of this incident, can I suggest the following as well, to all residents:

• If you need to go to Holland V, use the main road - go onto Queensway, turn left onto Holland Road (at the major road intersection), and you'll hit Holland V quickly. You can cut through Taman Warna if you want. See below.

• If you need to go to the Commonwealth market/hawker centre, go via the main Queensway road and enter Commonwealth Drive and then turn right into Commonwealth Crescent. Again, slightly longer path but much safer as it's along main, well lit, roads with lots of cars. See below. (The crossed line indicates the path that is now potentially unsafe for single female residents.)

• If you have to use the HDB pathway, be especially alert of your surroundings. If someone decides to follow you, if someone who is seated at the metal chairs gets up after you and walks behind you:
• Get out your access card so that you can buzz yourself in quickly,
• Take out your mobile and make sure you have the security number on standby;
• Walk faster/briskly towards the gate, checking behind to see if that person has picked up pace as well. 
• The HDB gate can be heavy, so be prepared to PULL it once it's unlocked, and be prepared to PUSH it hard to close it to prevent the stranger from following you in.
• Wave at the camera that's situated there. A stranger may not be aware of the camera and may think twice about doing anything funny.
• Carry a shrill alarm to call for help or to dissuade him from coming too close. 
• Importantly, do NOT let any stranger into the estate, no matter how 'well dressed' or 'normal' that person is. It's often polite or less embarrassing, if someone is behind you, that you let that person in after you have opened the gate. Don't do that!! If he wants to be let in, tell him sorry but only RESIDENTS can use these access gates. Any visitor must go through the main entrance. If he claims to be a resident but has lost his card, tell him sorry, but he can call the security office and they can let him in. I know it sounds rude, or it may be frustrating to a genuine resident, but given the situation, it might be better to be safe than sorry! 
• The same applies in our lift lobbies! If someone comes in behind you just when you are about to enter your lift lobby, unless you know that person (have seen him before), do not let that person in. IF he pushes himself into the lobby, make sure he gets into the lift first (pretend you're making a call or you forgot something, and let him take the lift by himself). You should wait for the next one. If he doesn't take the lift up, leave the lobby and head to the guard post. Ask a guard to escort you if you don't see him leaving the lobby.

If you have maids who frequent the market/hawker centre, please let them know of this incident and tell them to be alert.

It's a pity we don't allow tasers in the country :( or pepper spray even... but personal alarms should be available, although I'm not sure exactly where to find one in SG!

Please be careful when you're walking alone outside the estate... Times have changed, and it doesn't matter where we stay, some people are getting more daring and crazy!

Contacts for Unit Maintenance (ie Who to call when something breaks/self-destructs/rots)

Recently, the management sent out a letter detailing the list of contractors that were involved in supplying the fixtures/fittings in our estate. All these have expired on 31 Mar 2009 and so if any of us need to buy replacement parts etc, we need to get in touch with these guys.

So here's the list, for those (like me) prone to losing pieces of papers like this letter. It's actually more for me because I *know* I'll lose this letter!

The list is in Company - Contact - Items order.

1. Rheem - 68722043 - Electrical Water Heater
2. Paloma - 68722043 - Gas Water Heater
3. Brandit Asia - 65084639 - de Dietrich Microwave Oven
4. BSH Home Appliance - 67515000/67515003 - Bosch Electrical & Gas Cooker Hood & Hob
5. Soverign Spas Intl - 65672707 - Long Bath Jacuzzi @ Master Bath
6. Ideal bathroom - 62555303 - Master & Common Baths - Toilet hardware & Cloth Hanger, Sinks
7. Nan Wah Marketing - 65461311 - Yard Toilet WC Fitting & Toilet Soap Dispenser, Sinks
8. Marble Flooring (Mr Ah Long) - 90040986 - Marble Flooring
9. Merdeka Construction - 64818328 - Kitchen Glass & Balcony Sliding Doors, Windows
10. Pocket Door System - 62584111 - Kitchen Glass & Balcony Sliding Doors
11. Enlighten (Mr Kwang) - 67444715/98520716 - Wardrobe, Kitchen & Vanity Cabinets
12. Lee Khiok Tuan Parquet (Mr Lee ) - 67440772/97108211 - Parquet Flooring
13. Crystal Teak Enterprise (Mr Lim) - 64662522/90094679 - Parquet Flooring
14. CSH Global Distribution - 62695018 - Doors - Main, Rooms & Service Balcony
15. Yong Tai Loong - 62880355 - Rubbish Chute Cover, Door Knobs, Shelter Door
16. Nam Huat Tiling & Panelling Co - 68612628 - Homogeneous/Ceramic Tiles, Bathtubs Marble/Granite
17. TS Archi - 62657256 - Bathtub Glass Panel
18. Luxx (Ms Janet Koh) - 90257437 - Cabinet Countertop

I've found the list useful recently - My Newstyle Kitchen Faucet lever was always dropping off. Ideal Bathroom is now searching for the replacement levers for me!

Tags: Unit Maintenance, viz holland, viz@holland, viz @ holland

Viz Holland Floor Plans

I've been meaning to put this up for a while now, but just never had the time to do so. I still don't, but managed to scan the original floor plans (as released by Sim Lian Group). However, it's not nicely cropped so apologies for that.

Here are the various floorplans for Viz Holland/Viz at Holland/Viz@Holland yadda yadda. Note I don't have the Penthouse floor plans (not included in the original brochure.. obviously we not posh enuf).

1. Unit Distribution Plan (Overview)



2. Type A1 (46 sqm/495 sqf) and Type B1 (76 sqm/ 818 sqf)



3. Type B1a (96 sqm/1033 sqf)



4. Type B2 (80 sqm/861 sqf)



5. Type B2a (106 sqm/1141 sqf)



6. Type B2b (105 sqm/1130 sqf)



7. Type B3 (103 sqm/1109 sqf)



8. Type B3a (156 sqm/1679 sqf)



9. Type B4 (88 sqm/947 sqf)



10. Type B5a (114 sqm/1127 sqf)



11. Type C1 (117 sqm/1259 sqf)



12. Type C1a (179 sqm/1927 sqf)

The 'a' types are those with private enclosed spaces (PES) ie on the ground floor. I didn't scan in the building specifications as these are likely to be redundant when new owners redo up their flats etc.

Oh, and apologies for the visibly disturbing stain on the scans. It's coffee, I assure you :) Hope some people will find this useful!!

Tags: Viz Holland Floor Plans, Floor Plans, viz@holland, viz holland, viz @ holland, singapore, queensway, condo, property

Sordid Beginnings - The Full Text of the Murder at Viz@Holland

(A Halloween Special)

We were on a holiday in New Zealand, and when we came back to Singapore in Dec 2007, we knew we had only 4 more months till we had to vacate our previous home (sold to an en-bloc). Any delay on the eviction would have cost us penalties and we were told, prior to November, that Viz would be ready by Feb or March.

Then as we were driving home one day, we saw tons of police cars and those huge red special forces tanks outside Viz. We stopped and asked what happened. Someone told us. Our hearts sank. We were worried that the construction would be delayed and we'd be forced to move twice. Thankfully, we moved in 1st April 2008, first to collect the keys.

So here's the full unabridged version of all the newspaper reportings of the events around our sordid beginnings at Viz @ Holland, including the court cases! Oddly enough, the last report was dated in Feb 2009, and there's been no further reports on the outcome of the murder trial.

Also, note how the evidence seems (at least by CSI standards haha) circumstantial. Finally, for those unfamiliar with the laws governing domestic workers and helpers: Under the Marriage Restriction Policy, all current and former work permit holders need approval from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) before they can marry a Singapore citizen or permanent resident. If not, he or she may be barred from entering Singapore for a period of time. If a domestic helper gets pregnant, they will face immediate repatriation. Talk about objectifying manual labour.

(Reports presented in chronological order of course)

The Straits Times, December 18, 2007 Tuesday
CORPSE IN CONDO: IDENTITY UNKNOWN

THE body of a woman found dead in an unfinished condominium unit along Queensway is believed to have been in a cardboard box.
According to Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, her naked and bloody body had been stuffed into a paper carton about 1m in length, width and height.
She was found in a third-floor unit at the uncompleted Viz@Holland condo project. It is believed she died at the scene.
The woman was fair complexioned and believed to have been in her 20s. Her ethnicity is not known. She was found when a foreign worker chanced on the box on Sunday.
The Bangladeshi saw the corpse when he lifted the lid of the closed box, a fellow worker told The Straits Times last night.
Stunned by the grisly find, he alerted his supervisors, who called the police at about 10.45am.
The police have not arrested anyone so far, in what they have classified as a murder case.
It is still not known who the woman is and no one claimed her body from the mortuary yesterday morning.
Police investigations are ongoing.

The Straits Times, February 6, 2009 Friday
Murdered maid was in love triangle; DNA evidence shows the accused had sex with her before she died
By Khushwant Singh

THE trial of a murdered maid in a tragic love triangle began yesterday at the High Court.
Ms Yulia Afriyanti, is alleged to have died at the hands of her lover in a crime of passion.
The 25-year-old was found naked, stuffed in a cardboard box in the uncompleted Viz@Holland condominium in Queensway on Dec 16, 2007.
She had been strangled.
Construction worker Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, a Bangladeshi national who worked at the site, is now on trial for her murder.
In court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Peter Koy said that although Kamrul denies killing the woman, there was DNA evidence that he had sex with Ms Yulia before her death. There is also proof that Kamrul told the police lies, he added.
According to the prosecution, Kamrul met Ms Yulia at a social gathering in 2005. They became intimate a year later.
In September 2007, Ms Yulia told her employers and friends that she was returning to Indonesia and would be marrying Kamrul there.
A month later, the marriage was called off. Ms Yulia confided in her employers that Kamrul was already married in Bangladesh with two children.
She then began seeing Mr Joseph Guerzon Corpuz, 25, a Filipino construction worker here. They too became intimate.
They planned to marry but she never broke up with Kamrul and on Dec 9, 2007, she told Mr Corpuz she would be marrying Kamrul in January.
Despite this, investigations revealed that Ms Yulia continued her frequent and intimate telephone conversations with Mr Corpuz.
On Dec 15, she met Kamrul while taking her employer's dog for its evening walk from a residence in Grange Road.
He then returned to his dormitory in Kaki Bukit in the eastern part of Singapore but at 11.30pm, he took a bus to his worksite.
Telephone records indicate that he made several calls to Ms Yulia around 2am on Dec 16.
Less than eight hours later, a construction worker found Ms Yulia's body in a cardboard box - measuring 1m long, 0.75m wide and 0.75m deep - on the third floor.
The punishment for murder is a death sentence.
Legal aid is provided by the state in capital cases and lawyers Ang Sin Teck and Rajan Supramaniam have been assigned to defend Kamrul.
The trial continues today.

The Straits Times, February 13, 2009 Friday
Accused helped clean up crime scene

THE trial of the Bangladeshi construction worker charged with the murder of Indonesian maid Yulia Afriyanti took another turn yesterday.
Fellow construction worker Md Avir Ramijuddinmiah said the accused, Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, helped clean up the blood stains from Ms Yulia only days after he is alleged to have killed her.
Testifying in the High Court yesterday, Mr Md Avir said he was about to clean some apartments at the uncompleted Viz@Holland condominium in Queensway when he discovered a large cardboard carton in a third-floor unit.
It was too heavy to be moved so he opened it. Inside he found the naked body of Ms Yulia. He ran out of the unit and called his supervisor. Police were then called in.
Two days later, Mr Md Avir's supervisor instructed him to clean the area where the body was found.
Fearful, he asked Kamrul to do it for him. Mr Md Avir said Kamrul did not want to go there alone and a colleague went with him.
It took him more than 15 minutes of hard scrubbing to clean up the bloodstains.
Police investigations revealed Kamrul had sex with Ms Yulia before her death on Dec 16, 2007, but he claims that they had made love the evening before in a park near her employer's residence in Grange Road.
He then went back to his dormitory in Kaki Bukit. There he received phone calls from Ms Yulia that her Filipino friend Joseph was forcing her to go to a hotel.
According to Kamrul, she told him that she was at the Queensway worksite but by the time he arrived, he found her dead in the carton.
He said he kept quiet about the grisly find as he could not find his supervisor.
Last week, the High Court heard that Ms Yulia was also intimate with Filipino Joseph Guerzon Corpuz, 25, also a construction worker.
Mr Corpuz has yet to testify.

The Straits Times, February 17, 2009 Tuesday
Other man in maid's life wanted her back; Witness says he kept in touch even after she left him for former lover
By Khushwant Singh

FOR a while, construction worker Joseph Guerzon Corpuz and Indonesian maid Yulia Afriyanti were very happy together.
But the last time Mr Corpuz, 29, saw Ms Yulia, 25, alive was on Dec 9, 2007, when she told him she was still deeply in love with her former boyfriend Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, and that they were getting married in January.
She offered to return the cellphone Mr Corpuz had given her but he declined as he wanted to keep in touch with her and try to win her over.
They did keep frequent contact and on the evening of Dec 15, she called to tell him she was going to Changi Airport with Kamrul to welcome his mother and brother.
Heartbroken, he told her to take care.
But she never made it to the airport.
Her naked body was found stuffed in a cardboard box the next day in a unit at the Viz@Holland condominium, under construction at the time.
When Mr Corpuz phoned Ms Yulia a few days later, a police officer answered, saying his former girlfriend was dead and that the police wanted to talk to him.
Kamrul, a Bangladeshi construction worker accused of murdering the Indonesian maid, claims she was dead when he found her. He had gone to meet her at his worksite as she had complained that a man he knew as Joseph was trying to force her to go to the airport and a hotel that night.
Testifying at the trial, Mr Corpuz said Ms Yulia's telephone number had been given to him in early October 2007 by a close friend known as Aunt Annabelle.
He called Ms Yulia that very day and they made plans to meet on her day off on Sunday, Oct 14. They spent the afternoon at the East Coast Park before window shopping at City Plaza. He then took her to her employer's house at Grange Heights.
She told him that she had a boyfriend and he had returned to Bangladesh.
Their relationship blossomed and he would sometimes travel from Boon Lay to meet her when she walked her employer's dog at their condominium at 8 every night. They would also meet on Sundays.
In early November, they checked into a hotel but he said 'nothing happened' as she feared getting pregnant. She told him she had had an abortion before she met him but did not name the father. The next time they went to a hotel, they had sex.
One Sunday, her cellphone rang and she asked Mr Corpuz to answer it because the call was from her ex-boyfriend. Kamrul asked who he was, and when he answered 'Yulia's boyfriend', Kamrul said he was planning to marry Ms Yulia and started swearing at Mr Corpuz. Some weeks later, Ms Yulia decided between the two men.
Mr Corpuz continues his testimony today.

About the case
MURDERED maid Yulia Afriyanti was in a tragic love triangle and alleged to have died at the hands of her Bangladeshi lover Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, in a crime of passion.
The 25-year-old was found strangled in a cardboard box at the uncompleted Viz@Holland condominium in Queensway on Dec16, 2007.
If convicted of murder, Kamrul will be sentenced to hang.

The Straits Times, February 27, 2009 Friday
Maid murder: Defence has case to answer
By Khushwant Singh

HE CLAIMED he was asleep in his dormitory the night his lover was murdered. But phone records showed that through the night, Bangladeshi worker Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, was calling and sending text messages to Ms Yulia Afriyanti.
DNA evidence also revealed that Kamrul had sex with the 25-year-old Indonesian maid within the 12 hours before she was found dead at a condominium worksite in Queensway where he worked.
The evidence was clear that he was the last person with Ms Yulia before her death and also that he had killed her, Deputy Public Prosecutor Peter Koy said in the High Court yesterday as he summed up the state's case.
Justice Kan Ting Chiu ruled that the prosecution had made enough of a case for the defence to present its side.
The judge also advised Kamrul that he could choose to testify or remain silent, but warned that a refusal to take the stand may reflect badly on his case. As the construction worker could not make up his mind, the hearing was adjourned an hour early for lunch.
But even the break did not help Kamrul come up with a decision and Justice Kan adjourned the hearing till today, warning the accused that it would be his last chance to make up his mind.
During the 15-day trial so far, Kamrul has stuck to his story that he had last seen Ms Yulia on the evening of Dec 15, 2007 near her employer's house in Grange Road, and that they had sex at a nearby park. He said he left at 9pm.
Nine hours later, Kamrul and Ms Yulia planned to meet at his worksite at the Viz@Holland condominium.
He took a taxi there and claimed he found her naked body stuffed in a cardboard box in a storeroom of a third-floor unit. He said he was so frightened that he kept mum about his grisly find.
Describing Kamrul's version as 'incredible', DPP Koy yesterday pointed out that Ms Yulia's phone and jewellery were found in his Kaki Bukit dormitory locker when he was arrested on Dec 19.
Telephone records also showed that between 1.45am and 2.10am, there were text messages between them, five missed calls from him and one successful call.
DPP Koy said this clearly showed that Kamrul had lied to the police when he said he had inadvertently taken her phone back with him when they parted at 9pm.
He also claimed the watch and jewellery in his locker were not hers but items he had bought for his wife back home.
But forensic scientists found Ms Yulia's DNA on these items. Her employer also testified that she had bought the watch and used it before giving it to her maid.
She and other witnesses had also testified that Ms Yulia told them she and Kamrul would be welcoming his mother and a younger sibling at the airport on the day she was found dead.

Tags: Viz at holland murder, Viz@holland murder, Viz @ holland murder, Viz holland murder, queensway murder, condo murder, condominium murder, viz @ holland, viz holland, viz@holland

Viz Holland Management Office Contact Details

This is more for myself than anything else... For those looking for the Viz Holland Management Office contact details, here they are:

Viz Holland Management Office
223 Queensway #01-15
Singapore 276751
Tel: 64791509
Fax: 64791427
Email: vizhollandmgt@singnet.com.sg (Updated Nov 2012)


MCST: MCST Plan No 3298
Strata Residential Manager: Ms Desiree Li
(After hours, the telephone gets diverted to the Guard House)

The Security Office's Direct Line is 64793143.

Tags: viz@holland, viz holland, viz @ holland, singapore, queensway, holland

Pros and Cons of Staying at the Viz

It's been more than a year since we moved in.. got us thinking what's great, and not so great, about staying at Viz.. These are our own opinions, so caveat emptor as always...!

Pros:

1. Fairly convenient location to Holland Village, Queenstown, Bukit Timah, Holland Road, Dempsey Village, and or course Orchard Road.
2. Easy access to NTUC at Margaret Drive, National Library Queenstown, McDonalds Ridout Gardens, hawker centre and wet market just behind the estate.
3. New condo with (fairly) new facilities, although we're starting to see some signs of ageing, yes, even now! (Talk about poor quality construction!)
4. Each 'block' of flat is secure and accessible only to residents in that block.
5. Nice view of the South East (looking towards Queenstown/Margaret Drive) because of the greenery (mini-jungle!). Let's hope that view remains unobstructed courtesy of that supposed-Malaysian land in front of the condo!
6. About 3 neighbours (I think this is standard in all blocks?) share a common lift access area, so if you're lucky you get nice folks.
7. Decent common facilities - Good swimming pool for adults (with jacuzzi on the side), sizeable swimming pool for children (with built in jacuzzi), children's playground, gym, reading room, and about 4-5 BBQ pits. The pits get used quite often over the weekends too.

Cons:

1. No easy access to MRT (although public buses are quite frequent). The nearby MRT is still under construction for the next 2 years or so, and the construction area is causing jams during peak hours right outside Viz.
2. Noisy traffic and pollution from the Queensway road. This is worse over at Blks A and B (which are nearer to the road) than C and D. It's going to get worse, once the MRT construction is completed, and the PIE-ECP thoroughfare becomes accessible for drivers.
3. Neighbours are a mixed lot, from HDB upgraders to expats. Some can be downright rude or tend towards anti-social behaviour. Spotted - litter thrown down from upper floors, dogs brought on walks that pee in the carpark area (and the dog's walked by the owner), noisy pets, cooking that gets really smelly, noisy BBQ nights, and unfriendly glares in the lifts! We've been lucky that we have some really nice neighbours though :)
   
4. Whoever thought of using the carpark area as the main access for guests and residents is a loonybin. Talk about aesthetically unpleasing entry to the condo :P
   
5. Anticipating construction noises coming from Holland Crest when it gets (finally) torn down and construction on "Lush on Holland Hill.. yeah right" starts. Because it's a new condo, people moving in still do some renovation works, so for those who stay at home during the daytime, it might get.. irritable! God help us if Holland Peak goes en-bloc'ed!
   
6. Sun shines on one side of the condo, making that side particularly hot in the afternoons. Advisable to use solar film for those windows.
7. What's with new buildings and their somewhat paper-thin walls? We can hear when the folks upstairs take showers in the morning. Gets worse when the jacuzzi comes on, especially late at night.
8. Bathroom windows, while they are fogged out (so people can't see in), are still constructed like normal windows. That means leaving them slightly open will allow our neighbours to peek in. We've installed blinds to shut out unwanted attention. Still, some thought might have been put in to install more privacy-oriented windows.
9. No awnings so that when it rains, most windows that are open will let in the rain immediately, flooding the window ledge area.
10. Beware the mynah birds!!
    

Tags: viz @ holland, viz holland, viz@holland, holland, property, queensway, singapore

Basic Information

Some basic stuff first:

Viz Holland:
Developed by Sim Lian (Holland) Pte Ltd
Address is 221 Queensway, Singapore 276750
District 10
Plot size is about 104,205 sqf
TOP 1 Apr 2008 (no kiddin')
Total No of Units: 165
Breakdown of Units:
1 Bed Studio Apartments: 22
2 Bed Apartments: 87
3 Bed Apartments: 44
Penthouses: 12
More info can be found on this early launch info site here (including floor plans i think).
Some pictures can be found on the condoexpat site here. I'll put up some of my own later when i have time :)

Contact Details:
Management Office (managed by CKH Strate Mgmt): 64791509
Management Office manned by Ms Lim and Sheikh (previously Mr Li Yu)
After hours, the office number gets diverted to the Guardroom.

Tags: viz@holland, viz @ holland, condo, holland, queensway