Corpun file 8192 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 13 November 2001

Man raped daughter 43 times in two years

A MAN raped his mildly-retarded daughter 43 times over a period of about two years.

He started sexually abusing the girl when she was 13 and kept doing it despite her pleas for him to stop, and despite being caught in the act by his wife, the girl's stepmother.

At times, the girl would sleep under the bed to avoid the sexual assaults, but it did not work.

On March 31 this year, she ran away from home and her father lodged a missing-persons report about a month later.

When the police found the girl on April 22, she told them that her father had been raping her.

Yesterday, her 40-year-old father, who is a delivery assistant, was sentenced to a total of 24 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of raping his daughter when she was under 14 and three rape charges.

Ten other rape charges and one molest charge were also taken into consideration.

The father cannot be named as it will lead to the identification of his daughter.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Lit Cheng told the court that the father first raped the girl sometime in 1999.

That night, he had gone to her bedroom, which she shares with her younger brother and step-grandfather, and raped her.

A few nights later, he raped her again.

On Jan 17 last year, when the girl had just turned 14, he attacked her in the living room of their two-room Housing Board flat.

They were the only ones at home.

His wife returned home from visiting a neighbour and spotted him lying on top of her stepdaughter through a gap in the door.

When she confronted her husband, he pleaded for her forgiveness and promised never to 'do it again'.

But he raped his daughter twice in December that year.

DPP Lee said the police arrested the man three days after his daughter reported the rapes.

Not represented by a defence lawyer yesterday, the man pleaded for leniency.

His daughter, now 15, is staying in a children's home.

Copyright © 2001 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 8259 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 21 November 2001

Cell-phone robber targeted students

A YOUTH was jailed for seven years and ordered to be given 24 strokes of the cane yesterday for robbing 14 students of their mobile phones.

Between April and May, Lau Khiang Heng, 20, unemployed, and his two accomplices targeted students with Nokia mobile phones.

Sometimes, he took their money as well.

The total amount involved was $4,947.

Yesterday, Lau pleaded guilty to five charges of robbery committed with his accomplices at various places.

Ten other charges were taken into consideration.

One of his two accomplices, Mohamad Rizaharudin Daood, 18, has been sentenced to reformative training.

The third, a 16-year-old, will be dealt with next month.

The court heard that they would approach a student and ask if he was from any gang.

If he said 'No', Lau would tell him to fight or hand over his mobile phone.

Out of fear, the victim would hand over the phone.

Lau had been sent to the Boys' Home before for robbery, attempted robbery and causing hurt.

Defence counsel said in mitigation that Lau left his home to sleep in void decks and a friend's house for a short while because of his father's abusive ways and harassment.

His counsel said that Lau could not get a job because of a tattoo on his forehead, so he resorted to robbery to buy food and to sleep in cheap hotels.

Copyright © 2001 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 8261 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 22 November 2001

Good Samaritan tried to stop abuse

By Elena Chong and Tan Yen Nee

MISS Chan Xiu Ting stood by her father's hospital bed and called out to him in Mandarin: 'Pa, it's me. Can you hear me?'

A few seconds later, Mr Chan Yow Chong blinked once. In the hour which followed, there was no other response.

Mr Chan, 55, could only stare blankly at his visitors, unable to move or speak. He has brain damage and may not even be conscious of his surroundings.

He was assaulted five months ago, while standing up for a stranger who was being bullied by her boyfriend.

Poomenathan Govindasamy, 44, was pulling his girlfriend's hair and scolding her at a pavilion beside Block 2, Marsiling Drive, when Mr Chan stepped in.

A drunk Poomenathan punched him to the ground, then kicked him and rained punches on his head until he bled from the mouth.

For the next five weeks, Mr Chan lay comatose in Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Said Miss Chan, 25, his only daughter: 'He is now slightly better, but his doctor says it is possible that he might be in this state indefinitely.'

The man responsible for Mr Chan's condition was yesterday sentenced to 15 years' preventive detention and 12 strokes of the cane.

But Miss Chan is not focusing on Poomenathan.

'I don't feel angry towards the man who did that to my father. My only concern now is to see my father get well.'

She said she was not surprised her father had tried to be a Good Samaritan.

'He's a kind person who loves to help others. When I was young, he'd always put me before himself.'

She added: 'My mother left us when I was 10, so now I'm the only one left.'

Miss Chan, who stays in a rented room in a Toa Payoh flat, quit her engineering job five months ago and has been taking courses in finance.

Plans to do further studies might have to be put on hold because of the cost of her father's long-term medical care.

He will be transferred to Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre later this week.

Mr Chan, who was educated up to only Primary 6 and spoke only Mandarin, had struggled for years to support himself and his daughter. His life had improved since he got a full-time job as a storekeeper four years ago, earning $800 a month.

Earlier this year he used his CPF savings to travel to China and, two weeks before the attack, visited his mother in Hongkong.

Doctors have told Miss Chan that her father might die or remain partially disabled.

Still, she remains hopeful.

'My father's a tough guy. I believe he'll get better.'

Copyright © 2001 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 8262 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 23 November 2001

Two get jail, cane for part in gang riot

Their role was to find rival gang members whom their six friends wanted to attack; riot led to death of a national youth soccer player in May

TWO youths who helped six gang members to riot, resulting in the death of a national youth soccer player, were each sentenced to three years' jail and six strokes of the cane yesterday.

Mohammad Fahmi Abdul Shukor, 19, and Mohammad Ridzwan Samad, 20, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of abetting their six friends as members of an unlawful assembly to hurt Mr Sulaiman Hashim, 17, an under-18 soccer player, in South Bridge Road on May 31.

Their role was to scout the South Bridge Road area and locate the whereabouts of rival gang members whom they had wanted to attack.

The case against three of the six rioters will soon be heard in the High Court, but the main culprits are still at large.

A district court heard that Fahmi, Ridzwan and some friends celebrated a gang member's birthday at a Mohamed Sultan Road disco pub on May 30 before going on to a River Valley Road coffeeshop for snacks and drinks at about 3 am.

There, three of them - whom the police are now looking for - planned to launch a surprise attack on a rival gang which they knew operated in the Boat Quay area.

Fahmi and Ridzwan went there first to scout around for rival gang members at a disco called Rootz in South Bridge Road.

They were also told to get ready two getaway taxis for the assailants after the attack. Later, the other six left River Valley Road in two taxis for Boat Quay.

Mr Sulaiman and his two friends, both 17, who were not secret-society members, had just finished supper and were on their way to City Hall MRT station when they were set upon.

The victim's two friends managed to escape. Mr Sulaiman was stabbed 13 times outside a pub called Bernie Goes To Town. He died shortly after in hospital.

Pressing for a deterrent sentence, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hamidul Haq said the vicious and brutal assault was committed without any provocation or motive.

Such senseless violent acts, he added, were most reprehensible. A strong message had to be sent to like-minded offenders that such vicious and savage assaults would not be tolerated. Although the two were not present during the attack, he said they shared responsibility for the assault.

He said figures showed that gang-related attacks and rioting resulting in death had doubled from three in 1998 and 1999 to six last year. Rioting cases also went up from 314 in 1999 to 327 last year.

Noted District Judge Adab Singh: 'It is necessary not only to deter accused persons from repeating the offences, but it is also in the public interest to deter like-minded persons from committing such offences.'

Copyright © 2001 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.