Ex-hotel GM denies molest

[SwineHunter]

Jul 19, 2010
Ex-hotel GM denies molest

<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh

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Tan Hwa Kok (above) said that the 24-year-old Malaysian woman had asked him for a sleeping pill. He had not done it surreptitiously to take sexual advantage of her. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

SHE wanted a job here and appeared to like him, said the former general manager of Hotel Grand Central, who is accused of doping and molesting the job applicant in February last year. Tan Hwa Kok, 45, said this on the stand on Monday after his defence was called. Denying that he had doped her so as to molest her, he said that the 24-year-old Malaysian woman had asked him for a sleeping pill.

He had not done it surreptitiously to take sexual advantage of her, he testified. The woman came from Sarawak on Feb 3 last year, hoping to get a marketing job in the hotel here However, she alleged that two days after the interview, Tan slipped Zolpidem, a powerful sleeping pill that can be prescribed only by doctors, into her drink. He is then alleged to have kissed her lips and licked her private parts at about 11.30am on Feb 5 last year.

Tan, who resigned from his job a month later and is now a business consultant, insisted he did not force himself on her, saying she was a willing partner. He had called the woman after a former lover of his, also a Malaysian, had him from Sarawak to say that she had a good friend who was 'pretty, single and available' who needed a job. They later communicated through e-mail and text messages.

He said that he felt very comfortable with her easy-going attitude. As he was estranged from his wife, he was hoping to start 'a long and lasting relationship' with the woman. In her testimony in May, the woman admitted she wanted a job here, and thought that if she did not reject Tan outright, it would leave a good impression on him. However, she denied leading him on. She said that she had been traumised by the molest incident and now suffers from nightmares.

 

[Teo Kok Eng]

The guilty will wear dark glasses

Anyway, why dope her if you are pursuing her

 

[Red 2]

Ex-hotel GM found guilty


Nov 10, 2010

MOLEST OF JOB APPLICANT
Ex-hotel GM found guilty

By Khushwant Singh

Tan Hwa Kok, 45, ex-manager of Grand Central Hotel, charged with drugging a young woman and outraging her modesty. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

ESTRANGED from his wife, Tan Hwa Kok, 45, a former general manager of Hotel Grand Central, wanted to start 'a long and lasting relationship' with a woman who came to him for a job. The 24-year-old from Sarawak, Malaysia, appeared to like him and was quite prepared to have a relationship with him as long as she could get a job and stay in Singapore, he told a district court.

During the three-week-long trial which started in March, the woman testified that Tan slipped Zolpidem, a powerful sleeping pill that can be prescribed only by doctors, into her drink before kissing and molesting her on Feb 5 last year.

On Wednesday, District Judge Ch'ng Lye Beng found Tan guilty of drugging and molesting the woman. The judge said she came across as a 'truthful witness', whose testimony was collaborated by a friend. The judge will hear mitigation on Nov 22 before passing sentence.

Tan is also facing additional charges of abetting the illegal employment of three foreigners and for forgery and corruption offences. If convicted of outrage of modesty, Tan, now a business consultant, could be jailed for up to two years and fined or caned. For causing the woman to take poison to facilitate an offence, he could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.

[email protected]

 

[Zhang He]

Jail, caning for ex-hotel GM


Nov 23, 2010

Jail, caning for ex-hotel GM

By Khushwant Singh

File photo of former general manager of Grand Central Hotel Tan Hwa Kok. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

TAN Hwa Kok, former general manager of Hotel Grand Central, was on Tuesday sentenced to a total of two years and five months in jail and six strokes of the cane for doping a 23-year-old woman with a powerful sleeping pill and of molesting her on Feb 5, 2009. The 45-year-old had been convicted of these two charges on Nov 10 after a trial that lasted about three weeks.

On Tuesday, the father of two sons, aged 13 and 14, pleaded guilty to four additional charges. On each of the two counts of abetting the illegal employment of a foreigner, he was fined $7,200 each. For the corruption charge, he was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and a penalty of $500, which was the amount he had corruptly received. He was jailed an extra month on the forgery charge.

Defence counsel Edmond Pereira informed the court that his client is appealing against the conviction and sentence for the doping and molestation charges, as well as against the jail sentence for forgery. Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Yim had asked District Judge Ch'ng Lye Beng to impose a stiff sentence on Tan for causing the victim 'to relive the agony of the incident'.

The prosecutor also said: 'While he is entitled to defend himself against the charges, the accused in this case had cast all kinds of aspersions on the victim, causing her to break down several times.' The woman from Sarawak had flown in for a job interview for a marketing post at the Cavenagh Road hotel on Feb 3, 2009 and Tan had abused his position as general manager by taking advantage of her in the every hotel he worked at, argued the prosecutor.

Tan's defence was that the woman was willing to get close to him so long as she could work and stay here. He also testifies he gave her Zolpidem as she had complained of not sleeping well. He paid the fines and penalty and is out on $20,000 bail.