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Corpun file 24425 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 10 April 2013, p.B6
Student jailed for molesting woman as she slept in car
By Elena Chong
A BUSINESS degree student who molested a woman when she fell asleep in his car was sentenced to six months' jail and three strokes of the cane yesterday.
Jeff Tan Jack Foo, 32, admitted to groping the 24-year-old's breast twice at a carpark.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Ashraf Hassan said the victim met her 24-year-old female friend and Tan at St James Powerhouse, where all three had a few drinks. They decided to leave the club at about 2.30am.
Tan went to get his car and picked up the two women. The friend sat in front while the victim sat behind and fell asleep.
While driving, the friend told Tan to take the victim home first, but he declined.
He said he had been drinking, and was afraid there might be a police roadblock along the way.
They then decided to drive to the Marina Barrage to allow Tan to sober up before taking them home.
Mr Ashraf said the friend left to go to the toilet in the Barrage carpark.
Shortly after, the victim was awoken as she felt Tan's hand reaching slowly underneath her bra from the top opening.
He began groping her. She did not know how to react, as she was afraid that he might turn violent if she put up a struggle.
The woman stirred, and felt him withdraw his hand. Moments later, she felt him groping her again.
When the friend returned to the car, she noted that the victim had been crying.
More than three weeks after the molestation, which took place at about 3.10am on May 6 last year, the victim reported the incident to the police.
At the time, Tan was working with an education group conducting motivational training in schools and companies here and abroad.
Corpun file 24424 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 11 April 2013, p.A3
Drug courier spared the death penalty
But his accomplice will hang in first ruling since laws amended
By Selina Lum
Court correspondentTWO friends were convicted of heroin trafficking, but following recent changes to drug laws, one man will hang while the other will be jailed for life.
Before he was sentenced yesterday, Abdul Haleem Abdul Karim, 30, asked to be hanged if his friend, Muhammad Ridzuan Md Ali, 28, was sent to the gallows.
Choking with emotion, he told Justice Tay Yong Kwang: "If you are sparing my life and not sparing his life, I'd rather go down with him."
But the judge replied: "The court does not have complete discretion to do whatever you want me do."
Abdul Haleem then pointed out that he and his friend faced the same charges.
The judge told him: "You have certification from the Attorney-General's Chambers, he does not."
The judge was referring to a certificate from the prosecution stating that the accused had substantively assisted in disrupting drug trafficking activities.
Abdul Haleem was the first to receive such a certificate after changes to the law last year gave judges the discretion to not impose the death penalty on drug couriers.
Abdul Haleem did not react when he was sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.
Muhammad Ridzuan, after being sentenced to hang, smiled, waved and gave the thumbs-up sign to his sobbing family and friends in the gallery.
The two were arrested on May 6, 2010.
Anti-narcotics officers lying in wait in the Whampoa area had chased Abdul Haleem after he got out of a taxi, to Muhammad Ridzuan's flat.
Abdul Haleem's bag contained eight bundles of heroin. Officers also found 21 plastic packets of the drug in the flat.
The pair were jointly tried on two charges, one of which carried the death penalty.
It involved trafficking in not less than 72.5g of heroin, from seven of the eight bundles in Abdul Haleem's bag.
Under the law, anyone convicted of trafficking in more than 15g of heroin faces the death penalty.
Muhammad Ridzuan fought against the capital charge, claiming he did not know the amount of drugs he was receiving from the supplier would be so much. He was found guilty yesterday.
Abdul Haleem admitted to both charges at the start of the trial in February.
His lawyer Ramesh Tiwary told the court that his client cooperated with investigators and that he played a smaller role than Muhammad Ridzuan, who was the one in contact with the supplier.
Corpun file 24448 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 25 April 2013, p.B9
Man gets 14 years' jail for rape and robbery
He went after victim with knife while she was on her way home
By Selina Lum
A JOBLESS man who raped and robbed a woman at knifepoint as she made her way home was sentenced to 14 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane yesterday.
Tan Jun Hui, 30, pleaded guilty in the High Court last week to one count each of armed robbery, aggravated rape and attempted aggravated sexual assault.
Two other charges -- aggravated outrage of modesty and possession of uncensored films -- were taken into consideration.
Tan had spotted the victim, a 21-year-old civil servant, at the lift lobby of her block of flats in the early hours of Nov 16, 2010, after she got out of a taxi.
He decided to rob her and went back to his car, parked near the block in the western part of Singapore, to get a 21cm knife.
Before the lift door closed, Tan dashed in with the woman and pressed the lift button for the ninth floor, the highest level in the block.
When the lift reached the second floor, where she lived, she was about to walk out but Tan pulled her back in.
She handed over $200 after he threatened her with the knife.
When the lift door opened on the ninth floor, he dragged her to a staircase and robbed her of two mobile phones.
Tan then tried to force her to perform oral sex on him but she resisted.
He then raped her at the staircase landing.
After he left, she dressed herself, picked up the knife he left behind and went home to tell her parents what happened.
Police later found Tan by tracking the mobile phones which he got someone to help him sell.
The prosecution had sought a jail term of 15 years, arguing that Tan's "heinous offences" had traumatised the victim.
But Tan's lawyer, Mr B. Mahtani, had argued that his client, who is married with a five-year-old daughter, had acted in a "moment of foolishness".
He said Tan was "highly intoxicated" as he had drinks while celebrating his wife's birthday with the family and after that, with his friends at a karaoke lounge.
The lawyer said it was a one-off incident and Tan was sorry.
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