Hi Everyone,

I had a terrible encounter with Guardian Health & Beauty

On 19 Feb(Sun), I used Guardian’s Exfoliating Facial Wipes which as advertised as ‘Dermatologically Tested & Proven’, hence I thought that it was a safe product to use. This was my 1st time using this product from Guardian.

I used this facial wipe, all over my face. There were multiple small dried pimples on my face. After wiping my face for less than 1 minute, I realised in the mirror that the was an abrasion on my left cheek.

I highlighted this issue to Guardian SG on 21 Feb(Tue). The customer service officer then informed me to seek treatment and get a doctor’s memo on the same day. She then assured me that she would call me latest by 24 Feb(Fri) for instructions to send the facial wipes to Guardian and for further updates from Guardian.

I sent the requested doctor’s Memo of 21 Feb(Tue), the next morning 22 Feb(Wed). There was no calls, emails or any follow ups by 24 Feb(Fri) as mentioned by Guardian SG.

On 27 Feb(Mon), I sent in another email for an update but was received with radio silence.

In the morning of 15 Mar(Wed), after 22 days of radio silence, I commented on Guardian SG FB page on my issue. Guardian’s Customer Service officer got back to me around 4pm the same day only to inform me that they are not liable as there was a small pimple that caused my facial abrasion. She quoted a small fine print ‘Avoid contact with eyes and broken skin’ IGNORING the other fine prints of ‘reinforce skin barrier function’ & ‘OUR PROMISE, TRY IT, LOVE IT, OR YOUR MONEY BACK’.

The abrasion have resulted in a scar on my left cheek. The abrasion is multiple times bigger than the dried pimple that was claimed by Guardian to have cause my abrasion.

After I have highlighted to Guardian SG on the other fine prints that they CHOSE TO IGNORE, I was only offered a S$20 gift voucher as a form of ‘goodwill’ but not any admission of liability from Guardian SG.

Even Hiruscar gel for scars is retailed at S$26.15 on Guardian SG website. Dermatol Ultra Scar Gel is retailed at S$88.35.

This experience with Guardian’s denial of liability have left a bitter taste on the whole organisation, DFI Retail Group. For without Guardian’s ‘Dermatologically Tested & Proven’, ‘reinforce skin barrier’ & ‘OUR PROMISE, TRY IT, LOVE IT, OR YOUR MONEY BACK’ facial wipes claims, my one dried pimple of the many other dried pimple on my face, would have caused the abrasion and now scar on my left cheek?

43-year-old Jeremy Fernando, a Singaporean former lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS), was charged with one count of molestation earlier today (24 March).

He was charged with allegedly molesting a woman on 4 July 2020 at about 4am, at the victim’s residence, according to court records.

The identity of the victim and the venue where the alleged crime took place cannot be revealed due to a court order.

If found guilty, Fernando faces a jail term of up to 2 years, a fine, or caning, or any combination of the punishments.

Previously fired for inappropriate behaviour

Fernando was previously fired by NUS for having an “intimate association’ with an undergraduate in a separate case, breaching the school’s code of conduct for staff.

NUS’s statement on 21 October 2020 reads:

The University would like to provide clarifications on the matter concerning the dismissal of Dr Jeremy Fernando, a former non-residential teaching staff of the Tembusu College.

The University received two complaints alleging that Dr Jeremy Fernando had behaved inappropriately as a teaching staff. All allegations of misconduct are taken seriously, and the University stands firmly against all forms of inappropriate behaviour. On receiving the initial complaint, the University immediately placed the staff member on suspension and started investigations.

The University’s internal investigation established that Dr Fernando had an intimate association with an undergraduate. As this is a serious breach of the University’s Code of Conduct for Staff, the University acted swiftly to dismiss him.

Please refer to the timeline of events at the Annex, which describes the actions taken since the first complaint was reported to the University.

Standards expected of teaching staff

All NUS staff must adhere to the University’s Code of Conduct for Staff. There are strict guidelines pertaining to personal and professional conduct. For example, a staff must not engage in an intimate relationship with an undergraduate student, and a staff must ensure that they do not place themselves in a position of conflict of interest.

Our priority is to ensure a strong level of support and care for the two students involved. The two students were advised to report the allegations of misconduct to the police, in the company of an NUS staff.

Given the seriousness of the allegations, NUS has also separately made a police report.

Support for students

The NUS Victim Care Unit (VCU) has been providing care and support to the two students throughout the investigation process and will continue to do so.

Actions taken by Tembusu College

The College places the utmost priority on the safety and well-being of its students. When the incident was made known to the College, it immediately took action to protect the student community and worked with the VCU to facilitate a fair and prompt investigation that was conducted by the University.

As one of the students was formerly a student at Tembusu College, two of the College’s Directors have been providing direct additional support to her, and are continuing to be in touch with her.

The College Master has also engaged the different stakeholders on the matter through faceto-face interactions and discussions. In addition, the College took prompt action to ensure that there was no disruption to students’ learning following the dismissal of Dr Fernando.

A group of student leaders at Tembusu College have also started a ground-up initiative to form a Community Support Working Group to facilitate deeper dialogue and discussion within the College community.

Communication of dismissal

In this instance, the University has to balance interests of privacy and confidentiality, particularly for the victims involved. We recognise that we could have shared information about the dismissal with Tembusu staff and students in a more timely manner and we endeavour to do better.

In response to a request from the NUS Students’ Union, the University has published the Code of Conduct for Staff, which is currently available in the NUS staff intranet, in the public domain for ease of access by staff and students.

We will continue to remind our staff to uphold high standards of professional and personal conduct. We will also continue to work closely with our students, staff and stakeholders to build a safe, inclusive and respectful community.

39-year-old Kenny Cheong Chyuan Lih, an experienced policeman, forged 15 investigations papers for traffic accidents for his “own convenience”, of which 14 cases involved fatalities, according to The Straits Times.

He was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months imprisonment on Thursday after pleading guilty to 12 charges of forgery, with 28 other charges being considered during his sentencing.

Cheong, a station inspector who served as an investigation officer in the Traffic Police’s Fatal Accident Investigation Team, has been suspended since 27 December 2018.

He forged 40 documents which resulted in 2,501 investigation papers having to be reviewed; 8 coroner’s inquiries had to be reopened as well.

However, deputy public prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said the forgeries had caused no wrongful convictions, and all 8 of the affected coroner’s inquiries have since completed their rehearings, which were handled by the former state coroner Marvin Bay.

Among the cases affected by Cheong’s forgery was the fatal hit-and-run accident along Martin Road near River Valley Close in April 2016, where Kasmani Ahmat was driving a lorry that hit a man and caused his death.

The document for that accident was referred to as V1, and Cheong had then recommended that the AGC charge Kasmani under the Penal Code and Road Traffic Act.

The then-Assistant Public Prosecutor Lim Yu Hui assessed the investigation paper and felt that more investigations were needed and issued directions for further investigations in August 2016.

Instead of complying, Cheong created a “charging minute” under Lim’s name and falsely stated that APP Lim concluded that it was Kasmani’s lorry that ran over V1 and that she was directing Kasmani to be charged.

For context, charging minutes are the official correspondence in which the AGC directs the police to press charges against an accused person in court after assessing that there is enough evidence against him.

Kasmani was charged in September 2019 and the matter was then assigned to the then-Assistant Public Prosecutor Andrew Low, who discovered the forgery and reported it to the management of the AGC.

Investigations into Cheong’s criminal offences were then started by the Internal Affairs Office of the Singapore Police Force in March 2019, and he was found to have forged numerous documents.

At the time time, Kasmani also admitted to his offences and was jailed 8 weeks in 2018.

Cheong is currently out on a bail of $15,000 and is expected to surrender himself to that court on 6 April to being his prison sentence.