The Straits Times
Monday, Nov 26, 2012
SINGAPORE - A JUDGE has called for a special hearing to find out whether a woman's cheating offences had anything to do with her personality disorder.
Community Court Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan adjourned Goh Lee Yin's case to Jan 24. Hearings like this are generally ordered when a defendant pleads guilty but there are factual issues to be resolved between the prosecution and defence, relating, for example, to the appropriate sentence. Three witnesses - all psychiatrists - are expected to testify.
The defence had argued that there was a causal link between Goh's personality disorder and the offences, while an expert from the Institute of Mental Health is expected to say that there was no causal link at the time.
Goh has been convicted of theft three times since 2005 and was diagnosed to be suffering from kleptomania, an impulsive urge to steal.
In her latest cheating case, which occurred two to three months after her release from prison, the 31-year-old unemployed woman pleaded guilty last month to two charges of cheating her victims into believing that she had transferred money into their online bank accounts for the purchase of two Hermes handbags from each of them.
She cheated Indonesian national Cindy Lestari, 21, out of $67,500 and Ms Lynette Ong Pei Lin, 35, out of $29,500 in October and November last year respectively. Another similar charge and one of using another person's identity card will be taken into consideration when she is sentenced.
The court heard that Goh responded to Ms Lestari's online advertisement on Oct 14 last year and said she was keen to buy the two luxury handbags. She introduced herself as Audrey and negotiated a price.
Before they met, Goh had asked the Indonesian woman for her bank account number on the pretext that she would transfer the agreed sum of $67,500 via Internet banking. She created an Internet banking transaction page purportedly showing the transfer of funds from a fake account to the victim's and e-mailed it to her own mobile phone.
About a week later, they met at a park in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 and Goh was handed the handbags after showing the fake transaction page on her phone to the victim. When Ms Lestari found out that no money had been transferred, she tried contacting Goh but her phone was switched off.
Goh cheated Ms Ong of $29,500 in a similar way. She has paid her back the money.
During last month's hearing, Deputy Public Prosecutor Amardeep Singh had cited many aggravating factors and the high amounts involved to argue for a 15- to 24-month jail sentence.
But Goh's lawyer, Mr Wendell Wong, had urged the court to call for a pre-sentence report or impose a community-based sentence. He argued that Goh's mental condition or disability had impaired her judgment.
The offence is punishable with up to 10 years' jail and a fine on each charge.
