Corpun file 17264

Straits Times, Singapore, 17 January 2006

Man jailed and caned for raping sis-in-law

A 35-YEAR-OLD man who raped his pre-teen sister-in-law just 1½ years after he was married was sentenced to 20 years' jail and ordered to be given 18 strokes of the cane yesterday.

The unemployed father of two admitted to two counts of raping the girl when she was 11 in November 2002 and the following month after she had turned 12.

His dirty secret came out when his former wife caught them in a compromising position barely 10 days after their divorce in May last year.

She found them together near the kitchen cabinet of their home on May 30 last year.

The victim had her track pants and panties around her knees while the man was standing behind her and about to unzip his bermudas.

The woman shouted at her sister and her former husband.

The two immediately stopped what they were doing, and the girl pulled up her track pants.

When the woman confronted them, the accused brushed her off and left the flat.

She then questioned the victim and made a police report.

The man was arrested the same day.

The court heard that the victim, now 15, would stay with the accused's family or with one of her other sisters.

Both the incidents, in November and December 2002, occurred while she was staying with the accused.

She was sleeping in the living room when she felt someone stroking her.

She opened her eyes and saw the accused, who then raped her.

Another rape and two other charges of having sex with a girl under 16 were taken into consideration.

The accused could have been jailed for up to 20 years and caned on each count of rape.

Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 17265

Straits Times, Singapore, 18 January 2006

Sex attacks

Molester 1: Court rejects repeat offender's bid to settle case by cash

JAILED: Chng, previously convicted of rape and other sex offences, was jailed for 12 months and fined $2,000.

A CONVICTED sex offender who molested his 15-year-old neighbour tried to buy his way out of trouble with bottles of beer, an apology and a $1,000 cash settlement.

But a judge refused to let him off the hook so easily.

Odd-job man Chng Hock Choon, 52, was charged with two counts of outraging the girl's modesty, one count each of using threatening words and abusive words, disorderly behaviour, as well as criminal intimidation for swinging a glass bottle at the victim.

A district court heard on Monday that the victim and her older sister were chatting outside their flat on March 4 last year when Chng yelled vulgarities at them.

Chng later told the teen he wanted to have sex with her, and threatened to get gangsters to beat her up if she refused.

When the girl refused and told him not to cause trouble, Chng spewed vulgarities at her.

He then stroked her back, face and hair even though she pushed his hand away and screamed at him not to touch her.

When she rushed into her flat and shut the door, Chng kicked and banged on it for a few minutes.

A while later, the girl came out of the flat to seek help, but Chng was there and swung a bottle at her. She then fled.

Chng's lawyer told another court earlier that Chng and the victim's brother-in-law were drinking buddies. Chng, he said, had bought a few bottles of beer for the victim's family, and the matter had been settled in the presence of the victim and her mother.

He added that the victim's family had accepted Chng's apology with a handshake and he had also offered to pay the girl $1,000.

The lawyer disclosed these details when he applied for a 'composition', in which he asked for the molestation and intimidation charges to be compounded.

[...]

However, the prosecution in this case objected, citing Chng's criminal record for rape and other sexual offences.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Stella Tan Wei Ling said Chng had been jailed 12 years and given 14 strokes of the cane for rape and unnatural sex offences in 1989, but he had not learnt from his mistakes.

He had also been jailed in 1984 for outraging modesty, fined in 2000 for disorderly behaviour, and jailed three years later for a similar offence.

[...]

Corpun file 17265a

Straits Times, Singapore, 18 January 2006

Molester 2: Foreign worker jailed for preying on women

A BANGLADESHI construction worker who molested a 24-year-old woman was nabbed shortly after the victim told her boyfriend about it.

Aminul Islam Nurul Islam, 34, was cycling towards the woman along Jurong West Street 64 when he stretched out his hand and touched her right breast at about 12.30am on Dec 15 last year.

Shocked, the woman shouted at him but he cycled away.

[...]

In court yesterday, Aminul Islam pleaded guilty to two counts of outrage of modesty, and had a third taken into consideration.

He had similarly touched the right breast of a 21-year-old woman while cycling past her along Boon Lay Place near Summerdale condominium, at about 10.45pm on Nov 20.

In imposing a deterrent sentence of nine months' jail and three strokes for each of the offences, District Judge Wong Keen Onn said his acts were premeditated and that he had preyed on women walking at night on three different occasions.

Aminul Islam, who will serve a total of 18 months' jail and get six strokes, could have been jailed for up to two years and fined or caned on each charge.

Corpun file 17262

Straits Times, Singapore, 20 January 2006

Sex-change drug dealer spared cane

By Elena Chong

THE fate of a prostitute hung in the air for weeks while the court awaited a medical report to say if she was a man or a woman.

Thai prostitute Mongkon Pusuwan, 37, was charged with drug trafficking last month.

Men guilty of that offence are caned. But Mongkon, with her long hair, looked every inch a woman.

The problem was her passport identified her as a male. Thai law does not recognise sex change - which was what Mongkon underwent 10 years ago. But in Singapore, she could not be caned if she was a woman. Her case was adjourned and she was sent for medical examination.

A doctor confirmed she was a woman. So she escaped caning - but not jail.

District Judge Bala Reddy sentenced her to six years' jail on Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to four charges - trafficking in 1.52g of cocaine and 25 tablets containing 2.5g of ketamine, possessing 0.06g of Ice and taking Ice on Dec 7 last year.

[...]

Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.