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Judicial CP - August 1999
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Straits Times, Singapore, 6 August 1999Jail and caning for two ECP robbersTWO robbers who attacked a couple with crash helmets at the East Coast Park have been sentenced to jail and caning. Mahat Ahmad Sin, 22, and Yusnni Abdullah, 24, were part of a group of four who robbed the couple in March this year. Both men, who are unemployed, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to attempted robbery as well as causing hurt while committing a robbery. Mahat was given six years' jail and 18 strokes of the cane, while Yusnni was sentenced to 6½ years' jail and 18 strokes of the cane. Two other men have claimed trial. The court heard that on the morning of March 25, Yusnni spotted Ms Voon Hui Wan, 20, and Mr Chew Poh Kwee, 30, resting on a stone bench in the park. He suggested to the three men with him that they rob the couple. When they set upon Mr Chew with their crash helmets, he warded off the blows with his hands and ran off, with Yusnni in pursuit. Mr Chew escaped by jumping into a drain and seeking the help of anglers nearby. Meanwhile, two others held Ms Voon down. When Mahat demanded her valuables, she gave them $90 and her watch. Yusnni rejoined the group and then they dispersed. When Ms Voon screamed, Yusnni swung his crash helmet and hit her on the forehead. Ms Voon later received three stitches at Changi General Hospital. Anybody who voluntarily causes hurt while committing a robbery can be jailed for between five and 20 years and given at least 12 strokes of the cane.
Straits Times, Singapore, 7 August 1999Mum duped into letting man rape her daughterBy Lim Seng Jin A 32-YEAR-OLD married man with three young sons duped a 42-year-old divorcee into having sex with him by telling her that he was "the last messenger of God". He also told her she and her nine-year-old daughter were his wives from a previous life, and got her to pressure the girl into having sex with him. Tay Chee Keong, who is jobless, was given 24 years' jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane by the High Court yesterday for molesting the girl and raping her nine times in three years. Tay befriended the woman in March 1996 when they were both working in a shopping centre. He told her he was a medium who could "make contact" with God. He moved into the four-room flat in Jurong West the woman shared with her 47-year-old husband and their two young children -- the nine-year old girl and her younger brother. Tay, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Amarjit Singh, told the family that he was "the last messenger of God, and his soul would go up and have a meeting with God, His angels and Buddha". He started having sex with the woman after telling her she was his wife from a previous life. He later told her the same thing about her daughter. One afternoon in September 1996, he cornered the girl in the flat and molested her, saying he was trying to cure her of a disease. About two weeks later, he raped her. In October 1997, the husband caught Tay in a compromising position with his wife and chased them and the children out of the flat. Tay raped the girl four more times in rented chalets and a Geylang hotel before the woman and her children moved back in with her husband in January last year without him. He lived with them for three days in April last year, when her husband went to Malaysia, and raped the girl once more during this period. When the woman rented a flat in Jurong East after separating from her husband last December, he moved in. He raped the girl there in January and February this year, and complained to the woman when she refused him once. The woman then scolded her daughter. Tay raped the girl for the ninth time on Feb 14. The next day, she reported the rapes to her schoolteacher, who took her to make a police report. The victim, now 12, has been placed in a girls' home by the Ministry of Community Development. Judicial Commissioner Tay Yong Kwang told the rapist yesterday: "You preyed on people's beliefs and gullibility in tricking the victim's mother, and you used the same beliefs to make the mother pressure her own daughter...public interest dictates that you should be put away from society for a sufficiently long period of time." A police spokesman said yesterday that the woman's role in the rapes was being investigated. Tay's mother yesterday described him as an irresponsible son and husband who has not been home for more than three years. She spoke from her three-room flat in Bukit Batok West, where she lives with her husband, Tay's three sons, aged five, four and three, and his wife. 
The New Paper, Singapore, 10 August 1999This man molests woman in front of her hubby. Guess what hubby did?
Straits Times, Singapore, 11 August 1999Young rapist's jail term increasedThe 19-year-old youth who admitted raping a 12-year-old girl last year had his sentence increased to seven years' jail and six strokes of the caneA 19-YEAR-OLD youth invited a 12-year-old girl to his flat to play computer games but he ended up raping her. Soh Lip Yong had been sentenced to five years' jail after he admitted raping the girl in October last year. Yesterday, his sentence was increased to seven years' jail and six strokes of the cane by the Chief Justice, after the prosecution appealed for stiffer punishment against those who raped young victims. In his ruling, CJ Yong Pung How said the minimum jail term for such rapists should be 10 years, and the term could be reduced only when the offenders had pleaded guilty or shown other strong mitigating factors. Under the law, the maximum sentence for rape is 20 years in jail and caning. In Soh's case, the girl had gone to his flat in Block 206, Bishan Street 23, to play computer games with another youth at about 6 pm on Oct 17 last year. While they were in Soh's bedroom, the youth, Tan Ah Peng, fell asleep. It was then that Soh tried to undress the girl. She resisted and told him that she had an attack of asthma. Soh then woke Tan up and told him to buy some medicine for her. After he left, Soh stripped the girl forcibly and raped her. He was arrested hours later when the girl went home and told her parents. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kan Shuk Weng said yesterday that Soh deserved a heavier punishment because he took advantage of his friendship with the victim. "He turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing," she said. Agreeing with the DPP, CJ Yong noted that District Judge F. G. Remedios was lenient with Soh because he found that the girl had gone to the flat willingly. CJ Yong noted: "She had gone there willingly to play computer games and not to be raped." He added that he did not agree with Mr Remedios' finding that she had gone there "for more than just computer games" as she had sat on the accused's bed. CJ Yong said: "Perhaps the district judge would like to visit the bedrooms of one of these HDB flats. "If you do not sit on the bed, where else can you sit? In a rocking chair or an armchair?" Even if the victim had sat on the accused's bed, it did not mean that she was asking to be raped, he said. A rapist could not claim that such victims had agreed to have sex because the law has deemed those under 14 as being incapable of giving consent.
Straits Times, Singapore, 21 August 1999Toy gun robbers get jail, caningA five-man gang used a toy gun and knives during a hold-up and got away with more than $57,000By Chong Chee Kin FIVE robbers, one of them armed with a toy pistol, robbed three employees at a United Square office along Thomson Road in March this year fled with more than $57,000 in cash and valuables. A district court heard yesterday the robbers, all Malaysians, held the victims captive for about three hours and forced one of them to sign two cheques so that they could cash them. The culprits escaped and went to Malaysia. But four of them -- Ong Eng Hin, 27; Chong Mun Choon, 30; Tajilmulok Alias, 25, and Anuar Abdul Aziz, 27, were later caught with the help of Malaysian police. The fifth man is still at large. Yesterday Ong, Chong and Tajilmulok pleaded guilty to their crimes and were all sentenced to six years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane. Anuar, who had committed another robbery, received a stiffer punishment -- seven years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane. The court heard that on March 26, the robbers had gone into the 17-storey office in United Square. There, Anuar whipped out a silver-coloured toy pistol and forced the three employees into a meeting room. His four accomplices were then armed with knives. Ong later demanded that one of the employees, Mr Chen Yung-fu, 48, a trade representative of China Petroleum Corporation, hand over his cheque book. He later ordered Mr Chen to sign two blank cheques and gave them to his accomplices so that they could cash it. About 40 minutes later, the bank called the office and informed Mr Chen that the cheques, which amounted to US$35,000 (S$57,700), had been cashed. Before they left, the culprits also robbed the three victims of their cash and valuables. In an earlier hold-up on Feb 27 this year, Anuar and four other men had robbed two people at knife-point in an office in Albert Complex. They escaped with more than $3,000 in cash and valuables then.
Straits Times, Singapore, 21 August 1999Gang member goes to jail for killing rivalA MAN who fell in love with the girlfriend of a rival gang member had caused the two underworld groups to clash, the High Court heard yesterday. For having a relationship with their friend's lover, members from the Sio Kun Tong secret society first attacked the "romeo", Mr Shau Soon Kiat, an Esso petrol kiosk in Upper Bukit Timah Road on May 1 last year. In retaliation, Mr Shau's friends from the Pak Hai Tong secret society later launched an attack against the Sio Kun Tong. During this clash, Sio Kun Tong member Tan Lai Kim, 22, got slashed behind his knee with a knife and bled to death. Police were called in, and later the killer, Pak Hai Tong member Chua Soon Hock, 23, a full-time national serviceman, was arrested. Yesterday Chua pleaded guilty to the killing and was given 10 years' jail and 18 strokes of the cane. Deputy Public Prosecutor R.D. Gangatharan told the court that the dead man and other members of his gang had earlier attacked Mr Shau because they were unhappy that he was going out with the lover of one of their ex-members. They wanted to "teach him a lesson", the DPP said. After Mr Shau was clobbered, he told his gang members and they decided to take revenge. Three days later, at about 3.45 am on May 4 last year, the victim and his friends were seen at a restaurant near Upper Bukit Timah Road. Chua and his gang members then went there with knives and attacked them. During the clash, apart from the victim who died from the loss of blood, another Sio Kun Tong member, technician Lim Heong Neng, 22, had cuts on his head and hands. Chua and his accomplices fled to Malaysia after they found out that one of their victims had died. He later came back and was arrested here at Bukit Panjang Plaza on May 8 this year a police spot-check. Yesterday, Justice M.P.H. Rubin scolded Chua for "labouring under a false sense of loyalty to an unworthy group of thugs with a view to seeking revenge over a trivial matter". The other Pak Hai Tong members are still at large.
The New Paper, Singapore, 21 August 1999Victim, 17, outwits this serial molester
The New Paper, Singapore, 25 August 1999'Beer treat' turns bloody
Straits Times, Singapore, 27 August 1999Youth stole and extorted from familyBy Alethea Lim HE THREATENED to beat up his grandmother and set his family home on fire unless his mother gave him $2,000. Before that, Vincent Lim Hock Seng, 20, had twice broken into his mother's flat to steal. This time, his mother, Madam May Tan, 55, had had enough. She told the police. They laid a trap for him and caught him when she handed over some money. Lim, a Malaysian and unemployed, was jailed for five years on Wednesday and ordered to be caned six strokes for extorting money from his mother and breaking into her flat twice. A district court heard that Lim made the threat when he telephoned his mother at her flat in Ang Mo Kio on Aug 10 at 9.30 am. Madam Tan, a factory worker, arranged to meet him that night at 9 pm at the Ang Mo Kio Library, but told him she could give him only $400. Ten minutes before the appointed time, as she was walking towards the library, he accosted her and demanded the money. When she handed it over, the police stepped in and arrested him. In July, he had broken into her home twice. On July 20 at 5.50 am, he used an umbrella to unlatch the door. He then stole $1,200 which his grandmother had kept in a drawer. He broke in again on July 26 at 6.20 am by removing two window louvres. He then stole $250 and some jewellery from his grandmother's bedroom. Lim, a Malaysian, was previously convicted of theft on Sept 2 1997 and was put on probation for 18 months. Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to extortion, two charges of housebreaking and overstaying in Singapore. He told the court he had been an "unfilial son" and would change when he is released from jail. But his mother told The Straits Times on Wednesday she did not believe her son's words. "We've given up hope on him. I've given him many chances to change. We thought he would become a better person after his probation. I've also given him money so many times to pay off what he said are loanshark debts. "The last straw came when he said he wanted to beat up his granny and burn the flat. That was when I called the police. "Of course, it hurts me to see him end up in jail but I've cried over him until I've no tears left. We'll just have to see if he'll learn his lesson this time." Copyright © 1999 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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