Corpun file 25165 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 8 February 2014, p.B13
Pimp gets 7 years of corrective training
Recalcitrant offender also sentenced to 7 strokes and 16-year driving ban
By Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
A PIMP who drugged and beat a 16-year-old girl when she refused to work, and also assaulted a client, was sentenced to seven years of corrective training and seven strokes of the cane yesterday.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Elizabeth Chua had asked for a lengthy sentence to protect society from Malcolm Graham Head, 33, calling the Singaporean a recalcitrant offender who showed little remorse for his latest criminal acts.
Malcolm Graham Head, a 33-year-old pimp who had admitted to a series of vice offences as well as causing grievous hurt to a customer, was sentenced to seven years' corrective training and seven strokes of the cane. He was also banned from driving for 16 years. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
[Pic from web version only]
The former cook had previously spent almost nine years behind bars for cheating, theft of vehicle, reckless driving, procuring women for sex and causing hurt.
But that did not deter him from returning to crime within six months of his release, DPP Chua pointed out. He also ignored a 12-year driving ban, for which he was handed a 16-year ban yesterday.
"It is clear that the accused is a recalcitrant and that a lengthy term of corrective training would be appropriate for his rehabilitation and for the protection of the community at large," said the DPP.
Head, who faced a total of 41 charges, pleaded guilty to 17. These include managing a brothel, abetting customers to have commercial sex with a 16-year-old and causing grievous hurt.
DPP Chua had argued that there were numerous aggravating factors in his case.
For the prostitution offences, he and his girlfriend tricked the minor into working for his online vice ring.
They kept her under lock and key, fed her drugs so she could keep awake to serve more customers and, when she refused, beat her up.
"Threats and violence were used against the girls under his charge to ensure that they continued to work for him," said the DPP.
Then on March 4 last year, Head and three other co-accused, including 19-year-old girlfriend Veronica Patricia Rio, beat up one of the vice ring's customers in his condominium unit at Marina Bay Residences.
The victim, 54-year-old Frenchman Didier Moise Dominguez, was left with a broken jaw and a black eye.
Head's lawyer, Mr Amarjit Singh, had earlier pleaded for leniency, pointing out that his client, who has been in remand since last March, has yet to see his son after Rio gave birth in July. He also said Head promised to reform himself.
But DPP Chua highlighted how a corrective training report found that he had a tendency to minimise his role in the crimes.
The report by a prison officer also added that there was a high risk of Head re-offending when he was released from jail.
Corrective training, in which repeat offenders are put behind bars for five to 14 years, is a harsher regime than jail and does not provide remission for good behaviour.
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