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Three men get four years and six strokes for causing grievous hurt at Pearls Centre carpark

halo mai kao peh leow lah ah lau siang suka eh fallen talent

 

[GeneralHavoc]

3 men escape death for killing cleaner

(Clockwise from left) Thiagu Muniandy, Kirubakaran Manikumaran and Sunder Rangasamy. (Above) Thiagu MuniandyPHOTOS: SPF

Published Sep 16, 2015, 5:00 am SGT

They are instead given 4 years' jail, 6 strokes for death of acquaintance in drunken brawl

Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

They were initially facing a capital charge of murder but the three men who attacked and killed a drunken acquaintance a year ago were instead each sentenced to four years' jail and six strokes of the cane yesterday.

Security guard Kirubakaran Manikumaran, 22, odd-job labourer Thiagu Muniandy, 23, and Sunder Rangasamy, 28, admitted to grievously hurting Mr S. Krisnan Value, 47, a fellow Malaysian, between 12.37am and 1.13am on Sept 7 last year.

The case of a fourth accused man, Anathan Muniandy, 20, will be mentioned tomorrow. Kirubakaran, who faced four charges, also admitted to stealing Mr Krisnan's $30 mobile phone and his POSB ATM card at the Pearls Centre carpark that morning.

A district court heard that Mr Krisnan, a cleaner, started drinking in a coffee shop at the Eu Tong Sen Street building at about 4pm on Sept 6 last year. Kirubakaran and Thiagu joined him, and were followed by Anathan and Sunder.

At about 10pm, they adjourned to Redhill Close to continue drinking at another coffee shop, as Thiagu had to report for part-time work in that area.

At about 11pm, an altercation broke out between Mr Krisnan and Anathan. Kirubakaran hit Mr Krisnan's face twice with his belt. Bleeding, Mr Krisnan lay his head on the table while his companions continued drinking.

Subsequently, Anathan and Kirubakaran apologised. All five then returned to Pearls Centre where they had more alcohol at Level 11 of the carpark, their usual drinking spot.

By then, Mr Krisnan was very drunk and had to lie down on a mattress that was on the same floor.

A short while later, Kirubakaran got into a dispute with Mr Krisnan. They challenged each other to a fight. Kirubakaran punched Mr Krisnan twice in the face, causing him to fall. He then told the rest to beat him up. They kicked, punched and used a dustbin to hit Mr Krisnan's face and chest.

After the assault, Mr Krisnan stumbled onto the mattress. That was when Kirubakaran stole his phone and ATM card.

Later, when the group tried to wake him up, they realised he was dead. They panicked, and left Singapore via the Woodlands checkpoint at 4.20am. They were later arrested after follow-up investigations.

A total of 63 external injuries were found on the body of Mr Krisnan, who died from having his throat crushed.

Each of the three men who assaulted him could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined or caned.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Two RWS casino dealers jailed for colluding with poker player

Published
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - Two Resorts World Sentosa casino dealers were jailed on Wednesday after they were caught colluding with a patron to cheat at poker.

Chinese national Zhang Zhijiu, 40, pleaded guilty to two of six charges and was jailed for eight months for colluding with 65-year-old Singaporean Chua Lai Huat in three-card poker games on June 29 and July 14.

He did this by showing the value of the last card of the dealer's deck to Chua.

In the same court, Malaysian Choo Hui Yong, 27, was given four months' jail after pleading guilty to one of three similar charges involving the same patron.

A district court heard that a surveillance manager at RWS noticed Chua bending the edges of the ace and king cards when they were dealt to him on July 14.

It was also observed that Zhang would flash the last card in the dealer's deck to Chua when he took the cards out from a shuffling machine.

Both actions allowed Chua to gain an unfair advantage.

Further investigation showed that sometime in May, Chua befriended Zhang and suggested that the croupier flash the last card to him. In return, Chua would pay him 20 per cent of the day's winnings.

Zhang agreed. Between June 29 and July 14, he flashed the last card 370 times to Chua and was paid $400.

In Choo's case, he flashed the last card 138 times to Chua who gave him $600 in return for his co-operation.

Seeking a jail sentence of four months to be imposed on each charge, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jean Ting said the offences were planned, pre-meditated and hard to detect.

The dealer, she said, tilted the card at an angle that the co-accused could see and in a manner which was not immediately apparent to other casino patrons at the table.

She said the accused had abused his position of trust to ensure fair play.

Chua's case will be mentioned on Oct 7.

Zhang and Choo could each have been fined up to $150,000 and/or jailed for up to seven years under the Casino Control Act.

 

[khunking]

Man jailed for life for killing mum was ‘thoughtful’, says uncle

Growing up, Sujay Solomon Sutherson was a well-behaved child of above-average intelligence. The eldest of three children was born in India. He came to Singapore with his mother, Madam Mallika Jesudasan, when he was 15. He was eloquent and had a love for cricket and his family had no idea about his mental condition until he was in his 20s, said his uncle, Mr Daniel Jesudason, who also described Sujay as "thoughtful and considerate". In 2012, things went horribly wrong when Sujay brutally attacked his mother, stabbing her with two knives. After she collapsed, he stood over her for about 30 minutes before trying to decapitate her with a third knife. He then tried to burn her body to get rid of the evidence. Mr Jesudason, 56, discovered his sister's body under Sujay's bed. The managing director of a medical facility was speaking to reporters shortly after his 34-year-old nephew was sentenced to life imprisonment by Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng. She did not sentence Sujay to caning in view of his mental condition, she said. Sujay exhibited no signs of his mental illness until he attended the National University of Singapore, Mr Jesudason said, and it was his schoolmates who alerted the family. Mr Jesudason added that Sujay was also paranoid about the wiring in the house, thinking that people were listening in on him. "Sometimes, as I was talking to him, he wouldn't respond properly, as though he was engaged in a different conversation," he said. "The family understood his condition before the crime, but we didn't expect such severe violence." Sujay, who lived with his mother and his two siblings in a Bukit Batok flat, would go for months looking unkempt, showering only when his mother told him to. DIFFICULT Even after he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, his family found it difficult to make him adhere to his medical regime - he did not think he had a problem, said Mr Jesudason. This was also evident during yesterday's hearing. As Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan read out details of the attack and presented the court with pictures of the crime scene and Madam Jesudason's body, Sujay sat in the dock with a smile on his face, confidently looking around. At times, he would flip through documents he had been presented with, pausing to rub his chin. When Mr Kumaresan referred to previous cases as reference for sentencing, Sujay, who was representing himself, retorted that the cases mentioned involved premeditation, but not in his case. After he was sentenced and the court was adjourned, Sujay exchanged a look with his uncle, who was in the public gallery, before he was taken away. His aunt and uncle had been talking to him regularly via video link, his aunt, Madam Leela Jesudason, told The Straits Times recently. The 50-year-old public relations veteran said: "The rest of the family will also walk away with wounds that will not heal." SUPPORT GROUPS Along with her brother, Daniel, psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow and former IT professional Eric Lee Meng Kai, she set up PSALTCare, which runs various self-help support groups for those living with mental illness and addictions, and works with students to raise awareness of mental health. Mr Jesudason said that discovering his sister's body has left an imprint on him, but he has been able to deal with it. "Unless something similar happens that may trigger flashbacks, I think I'm okay," he said. He has thrown his energy into championing mental health issues and hopes more can be done in the public sector. "We need to look at not just treatment but also rehabilitation," he said, conceding that incarceration would ensure treatment for his nephew. In the three years since the incident, Sujay's siblings have also renovated the flat and are still living in it. "I commend them for that. Maybe it's a gesture to their mother - they knew how much she did to pay for the flat," he said. Mr Jesudason said that Sujay's siblings were unable to attend the court session because one is overseas and the other has work commitments. When asked if he felt that justice has been served, Mr Jesudason said: "I'm not so concerned about justice, we've already lost two members of our family." Sometimes, as I was talking to him, he wouldn't respond properly, as though he was engaged in a different conversation.

 

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8 months’ jail for molesting woman on MRT train


SINGAPORE: A 28-year-old foreign worker was on Thursday (Sep 17) sentenced to eight months in jail for molesting a woman on a crowded MRT train in June.
The victim, who cannot be named to protect her identity, had boarded the train at Sembawang station, heading towards Raffles Place station.

She took a seat next to the accused. When Islam noticed that the woman had fallen asleep, he decided to “give in to the urge to touch her”. He pretended to cross his arms over his chest and slipped his left hand under his right elbow and reached over to touch the victim’s chest.
The accused began to slowly rub the victim’s breast to “test” if she would wake up, the court heard. Emboldened by the fact that she continued to sleep, Islam continued to rub her more forcefully.
That roused the woman and upon realising what had happened, she shouted at the accused and used her mobile phone to take a picture of him. Islam apologised to the victim but claimed the touch was accidental. The victim made a police report later that day.
Upon his arrest, Islam initially feigned ignorance, but subsequently admitted to the offence.
In sentencing Islam, District Judge Ng Peng Hong said a strong signal needed to be sent that "this kind of behavior on public transport cannot be tolerated”.
Islam could have faced up to two years in jail, a fine and caning for his offence.

 

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[h=1]

[/h]
[h=1]SMU student jailed for stealing S$6,300 worth of casino chips[/h]
You Hyeon Ho, 22, had another 245 charges taken into consideration in his sentencing. A psychiatrist said he had errors of judgement arising from depression.SINGAPORE: A South Korean student has been sentenced to 6 weeks’ jail, after pleading guilty to 27 counts of theft of casino chips from the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Casino in October last year.
You Hyeon Ho, 22, had another 245 charges taken into consideration in his sentencing. He S$6,300 worth of chips from several patrons of MBS Casino over one month.
CCTV footage captured You stealing casino chips at the Sic-Bo tables by either shifting or removing other patrons’ wagers from the betting boxes just before the results of a game. If patrons noticed their chips were missing, You would return them their chips and claim that he had mistaken them for his own.
He was caught after shifting a chip belonging to another patron, resulting in the latter losing the game. The casino’s surveillance team was alerted who referred the matter to police.
In court on Thursday, You’s lawyer, Jonathan Wong told the court that his client’s offences were “completely out of character”, noting that he had “immense potential” and a track record of good grades over the past decade he has lived here.
However, just prior to his offences, You experienced “enormous mental pressure and emotional instability” due to the “sudden and severe breakdown of his family’s finances” after his father’s bankruptcy, Mr Wong told the court. You’s family, including his parents and younger sister, were forced to leave Singapore abruptly he said, leaving him and his younger brother, a first-year student at the National University of Singapore, to live on their own for the first time in their lives.
An assessment of You by psychiatrist Dr Kenneth Koh at the Institute of Mental Health found that he had been suffering from depression at the time of the offences and that led to errors of judgement.
In sentencing, District Judge Lim Tse Haw said that You had had displayed “persistent offending behaviour” with his stealing spree. But he took in account You's youth and the fact that he is a first-time offender.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Fourth man gets jail and caning for brutal assault on cleaner at Pearls Centre

Anathan Muniandy (above) was one of two who used a dustbin to hit compatriot S. Krisnan Value. PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE

Published Sep 17, 2015, 2:16 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A 21-year-old man who brutally assaulted a fellow cleaner with three others at the multi-storey carpark of Pearls Centre was sentenced to four years' jail and six strokes of the cane on Thursday.

Anathan Muniandy, a Malaysian, was one of two who used a dustbin to hit compatriot S. Krisnan Value, who died from a crushed throat. An autopsy showed that Mr Krisnan suffered a total of 63 external injuries.

Diagnosed with mild intellectual disability, Anathan was the youngest of the four who caused grievous hurt to to the 47-year-old deceased at the carpark of the building on Sept 7 last year.

The other three - Kirubakaran Manikumaran, 22, Thiagu Muniandy, 23, who is Anathan's cousin, and Sunder Rangasamy, 28 - were given similar sentences on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the amended charge.

All four were originally charged with murder.

The court heard that Mr Krisnan was drinking for several hours with his assailants at coffeeshops at Pearls Centre, Eu Tong Sen Street, and Redhill Close.

At about 11pm on Sept 6 last year, a quarrel broke out between Mr Krisnan and Anathan. Kirubakaran removed his belt and hit Mr Krisnan twice on the face, leaving him with a bloodied cheek. Mr Krisnan then rested his head on the table while the rest continued drinking.

About half an hour later, Anathan and Kirubakaran apologised to Mr Krisnan for the earlier attack.

The five decided to return to Pearls Centre. They bought beer and drank at Level 11 of the carpark. Mr Krisnan lay on the mattress on the floor and told the rest he did not wish to drink any more

After a short while, Kirubakaran had a dispute with Mr Krisnan, and the two parties challenged each other to a fight. Kirubakaran punched Mr Krisnan twice on the face and the latter fell. Kirubakaran then told the rest to beat up Mr Krisnan,who was kicked and punched.

Anathan used a dustbin to hit the deceased's face and chest three or four times.Sunder threw a large plastic dustbin at Mr Krisnan's body twice.

About three hours later, Anathan tried to wake up Mr Krisnan and found out that he had died. He then went to Level 12 to wake up the rest at a makeshift room. The four panicked and left Singapore via Woodlands checkpoint at 4.20am the same day. They were arrested via follow-up investigation over the next few days.

The maximum punishment for causing grievous hurt is 10 years' jail, fine and caning.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Police arrest 21 men at Yew Tee Industrial Estate for immigration offences

21 men were arrested for immigration offences in a two-day multi-agency operation at Yew Tee Industrial Estate. PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE/FACEBOOK

PUBLISHEDSEP 19, 2015, 3:41 PM SGT
Amelia Teng

SINGAPORE - Police arrested 21 men over the last two days for various immigration offences in a multi-agency operation at Yew Tee Industrial Estate.

The joint effort on Thursday and Friday involved 105 officers from the Jurong Division, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Customs.

In a post on its Facebook page on Saturday, police said that 75 cartons, 343 packets and 157 sticks of assorted brands of duty unpaid cigarettes were also seized during the operation. It added that investigations are ongoing.

Commander of Jurong Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police Wilson Lim, said: "This multi-agency operation led by the Police is part of ongoing joint enforcement efforts to clamp down on criminal activities. Police will continue to work closely with other law enforcement agencies to deter illegal activities."

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Foreigner jailed for seditious comments and false police reports

Ello could have been fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to three years under the Sedition Act. For giving false information to the police, he could have been jailed for up to one year and fined up to $5,000 for each charge.PHOTO: ST

Published 21 September 2015
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A Filipino convicted of making disparaging comments online about Singaporeans and two counts of providing false information to the police was jailed for four months on Monday .

Ed Mundsel Bello Ello, 29, was an assistant nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital when he published on the Facebooke page TheRealSingapore on Jan 2 this year that Singaporeans are "loosers'' (sic) and that he prayed that "disators'' (sic) strike Singapore .

The seditious comment attracted numerous hostile responses on Facebook. The comments republished on Kaki News Network's (KNN) Facebook page elicited 473 responses, many of which involved the slinging of racial slurs.

Many aggrieved Singaporeans, who were offended by his comments, filed police reports against him.

District Judge Siva Shanmugam said in his oral remarks that Ello's comments were extremely provocative and that Ello had intended for his comments to be so.

Ello, who had exploited the anonymity provided by his Edz Ello Facebook account, would have known that he would be enraging a large number of people. Indeed, there were more than 600 replies to his comments.

The judge said Ello's inflammatory comments had the potential to harm relations between Singaporeans and Filipinos in Singapore, and might already have affected many in the community adversely.

"The accused's provocative conduct, if left unchecked, could possibly result in discrimination against the innocent and law abiding minority Filipino residents in Singapore,'' he said.

Alarmed by the hostility generated by his comments, Ello deleted both comments that he had posted that night, before police began investigation.

The next day he learnt that the comments he had deleted had already gone viral and had been republished elsewhere online, and had continued to generate hostility.

He reported to the police that he was "shocked and furious'' that the comments had been attributed to him and asserted that he did not post them.

In a written police statement on Jan 4, Ello claimed that someone had accessed his Facebook account, using the desktop computer he had logged into at a cybercafe at Lucky Plaza.

Extensive investigation was carried out by the police. Ello finally came clean when he was confronted with evidence to the contrary.

The judge agreed with the prosecution that the peace and harmony of a cosmopolitan society such as Singapore's is held together by mutual respect and understanding, and that the unity of the society had been the foundation of its success and progress in the last 50 years.

"It is therefore imperative for this court to send a clear and unequivocal signal that such offence, if made out, will be met with the full brunt of the law in the form of a deterrent sentence,'' he added.

Another charge of publishing the comment that "SG will be the new filipino state" and of lying to the police were taken into consideration.

Ello could have been fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to three years under the Sedition Act. For giving false information to the police, he could have been jailed for up to one year andfined up to $5,000 for each charge.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Maid, 28, jailed 10 months for having sex with employer's 14-year-old son

Published 22 September 2015
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A domestic worker has been jailed for 10 months for having sex with a minor half her age.

The 28-year-old Indonesian woman admitted on Monday to having sex with her employer's 14-year-old son in a house on Sept 5. Neither party can be named due to a gag order.

A district court heard that the accused came to Singapore in late June this year and started work for the boy's family on July 3.

At about 7pm on Sept 5, the boy was at home with the woman and another foreign domestic helper. His parents and his uncle had gone out.

The boy was showing card tricks to the woman when she tried to hug him but he moved her hand away.

Later, he went up to his room to put away the cards. About a minute later, the woman came into his room .

As he was sitting on a chair in front of the computer table, she came from behind and started kissing his cheeks and neck. He stood up and tried to walk to the door.

Before he could leave, she hugged him and began to remove her shorts and panties.

Shocked by what was happening, he did not resist. She then removed his clothes, took him to his bed and had sex with him.

When she heard the boy's uncle had come home, she stopped.

He later told his father what had happened.

Urging the court to impose at least 10 months' jail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai cited aggravating factors such as breach of trust; unprotected nature of the intercourse; and said the woman was tested positive for Chlamydia trachomatis, a sexually transmitted disease.

He said it was reprehensible, regardless of whether the boy was eventually infected or not. It could have been sheer luck that he was not infected, but the fact remained that she put the boy at risk.

The woman, whose sentence was backdated to Sept 7, could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined for having sex with a person under 16 years old.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

27-year-old British national charged with crossing F1 race track on Sunday

Yogvitam Pravin Dhokia, who allegedly committed a rash act on Sept 20 to endanger safety of F1 drivers in the Singapore Grand Prix, was charged on Tuesday. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

Published Sep 22, 2015, 10:43 am SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A man was charged in court on Tuesday (Sept 22) with committing a rash act by crossing the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix track on Sunday while the race was on.

No plea was taken from Briton Yogvitam Pravin Dhokia, 27.

He is accused of the rash act to endanger the safety of the Formula One drivers involved in the race near Turn 13 along Esplanade Drive at about 9pm that day.

The prosecution sought an adjournment to finalise investigation. Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim said fresh charges may be submitted against him.

Bail of $15,000 was offered.

Mr Lim said the bailor could be a Singaporean or a consular officer from the British High Commission.

Asked by the court, he said the embassy has been informed.

Yogvitam's passport has been impounded. He told the court that the bail sum was too high for him and he is currently not working.

The case will be mentioned on Oct 6.

If convicted, he could be jailed for up to six months and/or fined up to $2,500.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Engineer jailed 50 days for filming women showering in hostel

Published Sep 25, 2015, 5:29 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A Japanese engineer on assignment in Singapore was jailed for 50 days on Friday for using his cellphone to take digital videos of women showering in a hostel.

Go Kotozaki, 37, admitted to two of six charges of insulting modesty at a hostel in South Bridge Road on May 29 and June 2.

The court heard that Kotozaki had checked into the hostel on June 1. Some time after midnight, he went to the shared common toilet.

He saw a 26-year-old woman - a tourist from China - enter the shower room which has a window ledge. He then went to the adjacent cubicle and put his mobile phone at the ledge pointing it towards the woman. He managed to take two video clips of her showering between 12.27 and 12.29am.

When the woman walked towards the window ledge to retrieve her toiletries, she noticed Kotozaki's mobile phone and shouted. He then left the scene.

During an earlier stay, on May 29, Kotozaki had similarly taken four video clips of an unknown woman showering at the same hostel.

Kotozaki's lawyer Adrian Wee said the father of one had experienced extreme loneliness while working here on a major project. He was stressed out, worked long hours, and could not meet initial project targets.

He lost 7kg as a result; had poor concentration and was lethargic. Mr Wee said his client was depressed, had no friends or social network to turn to for support. By May, he decided to check into a hostel to be in the company of other people. Nothing happened during his one-night stay at the hostel on May 22.

A week later, when he checked into the hostel again, he found that it was possible to film areas of the female shower.

"Acting completely out of character, he then filmed an individual in the shower with his mobile phone,'' he said.

Kotozaki, he said, is very remorseful and ashamed of the incident and has been placed on a course of antidepressants. He has sought treatment and had volunteered his services at the Assisi Home and Hospice for the past few months.

He could have been jailed for up to one year and or fined on each charge.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Cable installer jailed nine months for molesting girl, 12, in her home

Published Sep 25, 2015, 4:58 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A foreign worker who went to a flat to install a fibre optic cable earlier this year molested a 12-year old girl there. On Friday he was sentenced to nine months' jail.

A district court heard that Chellamuthu Gajendran, 36 went to the flat at about 3pm on March 3 to carry out the installation works. The girl, a primary school student, was in the flat with her younger brother and she was reading a book in the living room.

About 15 minutes later, he asked to use the toilet and the girl showed him the way.

He then approached her and hugged her. He did this again later and also touched her breasts.

Shocked, the victim did not say anything and moved away. She sat down and continued to read her book. He repeated the acts and she pushed him away.

Asked if she liked it, she replied emphatically that she did not.

When she asked why he had done that to her, he said that he could not control himself.

The girl told her parents about the incident the next day via text message as she was too embarrassed to talk about it in person . Her father took her to make a police report that evening.

Gajendran was arrested on March 18.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Michael Quilindo said Gajendran had taken advantage of the fact that the girl was alone when he molested her in the sanctity of her own home.

Lawyer Rajan Supramaniam said his client, a father of two, is profoundly remorseful and offers his apology to the victim.

He said Gajendran had been working in Singapore for the past five years and had lost his job.

District Judge Low Wee Ping told Gajendran that he had been very foolish, and that he could have faced three charges and be punished with caning.

The maximum penalty for molesting a person under 14 years old is five years' jail, fine and caning.

 

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7 men charged over slashing, victim 'permanently disfigured'

Seven men have been charged over the slashing of a 52-year-old man, who is now permanently disfigured from the attack. Police say preliminary investigations show the attack arose from a business rivalry dispute. SINGAPORE: Seven men were charged in court on Wednesday (Sep 23) over the slashing of a 52-year-old man, who is now permanently disfigured from the attack.

Singaporeans Ramge Visvamnathan, Joshua Navindran Surainthiran, Joel Giritharan Surainthiran, Zackeer Abbass Khan, Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen, and Indian national Koleth Navas Nasir have been charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

The seventh accused, Indian national Koleth Abdul Nasir, has been charged for criminal intimidation.

He allegedly threatened the victim, Liakath Ali, by telling him: “Last time we should do you but you escaped; but this time around, we will do you; you watch out”.

Four days later, on Aug 26 at about 10pm, the men attacked Liakath at Arab Street with a knife.

Police say preliminary investigations show the attack arose from a business rivalry dispute.

The lawyer for one of the accused, Zackeer, told the court on Wednesday that his client’s family has said that Zackeer “has no involvement in the charge”. He said this in response to the prosecution’s plans to remand Zackeer and his co-accused for a further week to continue investigations.

Due to the number of suspects involved, and the possibility of further charges relating to other incidents, the judge allowed Zackeer’s further remand, and that of his co-accused.

It is unclear whether the other men, aged between 19 and 46, have engaged legal counsel.

The case will be mentioned next on Sep 30.

​

 

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[h=1]Doctor's kin seek return of $5m she gave maid, 2 men[/h]
[h=2]Trio accused of taking advantage of wealthy 86-year-old woman, who has dementia[/h]Relatives of a wealthy 86-year-old retired doctor who has dementia have accused her maid and two foreign workers of enriching themselves with millions of dollars by taking undue advantage of the elderly woman.
They are now seeking to recover from Sri Lankan maid Arulampalam Kanthimathy and Indian nationals Kulandaivelu Malayaperumal and Gopal Subramanian a sum of about $5 million - which Dr Freda Paul gave them in cash between January and July of 2010.
Part of the cash was from the sale of her sprawling bungalow in Haig Road in October 2009, when it was sold for $15.4 million to a developer which has since built a 16-storey condominium on the plot. Dr Paul's relatives also want to get back another $500,000 which Dr Paul gave to property agent Parvathi Somu, who handled the bungalow sale.


But the defendants insist the money was given to them willingly by the old woman because of their friendship and care, when her relatives allegedly deserted her.
The High Court suit was filed in June by lawyer and novelist Philip Jeyaretnam, a son of the late politician J.B. Jeyaretnam, with another distant relative. Dr Paul's grandfather and Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam's grandfather were cousins.
Before her retirement, Dr Paul was a paediatric doctor at the Singapore General Hospital and an associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Singapore.
According to her relatives, a psychiatrist had diagnosed on Dec 15, 2009 that Dr Paul was incapable of making financial decisions. On that basis, they are asking the court to order the gifts that she purportedly made after that date be returned to her as she did not have the capacity to understand her actions.
In their defence, Mr Perumal, 52, and Mr Gopal, 54, said that they befriended Dr Paul in 2001 when they were working for a construction firm at a worksite next to her bungalow.
They would come over to clean her house and they kept in touch after the construction works ended.
Dr Paul, who is unmarried, was then living in the bungalow with her sister Grace, who suffered from mental disabilities, and the maid.
Both Mr Perumal and Mr Gopal claim that Dr Paul had financial difficulties and did not get help from friends or relatives. They said that they had to buy her food and even lent her sums of $500 and $1,000 from time to time.
Mr Perumal claimed that even when Dr Paul's sister Grace died in hospital in June 2009, no relative turned up. He said that he was "a great source of comfort" to Dr Paul during that period.
In September 2009, Dr Paul granted Mr Gopal power of attorney to sell the house. It was sold a month later. When the sale was completed in January, Mr Gopal paid himself $912,313, which was 6 per cent of the sales proceeds.
He also gave $1 million each to Mr Perumal and the maid, which he said was according to Dr Paul's wishes. He then bought her a smaller semi-detached house in Ceylon Road, which she moved into in early 2010, together with Mr Perumal.
In June that year, the maid was added as a joint account holder to Dr Paul's bank account.
A month later in July, $2.5 million were transferred out of the joint account, with Mr Perumal and the maid receiving $1 million each. The property agent received the other $500,000. These are part of the monies that Dr Paul's relatives are trying to recover for her.
In her filed defence, Ms Parvathi also insisted that she had cared for Dr Paul and that she had acted ethically and faithfully.
In April this year, the court revoked a will Dr Paul made in July 2010 which left the bulk of her estate to Mr Perumal and the maid, after giving $1.7 million to the property agent and three organisations and persons in India and Sri Lanka.
The court accepted that she did not have the mental capacity to make a new will and accepted a statutory will which reinstated an earlier will that she made in 2007 which leaves all her assets to the National University of Singapore Faculty of Medicine to set up a bursary fund for female medical students.
Dr Paul is now living in a nursing home. Her maid has left Singapore.
Both Mr Perumal and Mr Gopal - former work pass holders - have since obtained permanent residency. Mr Perumal is married to a Singaporean woman.
Both declined to comment when The Straits Times visited their flats in Toa Payoh and Sengkang yesterday, referring queries to their lawyer R. Kalamohan.
The case will be heard at the end of next month.

 

[khunking]

[h=1]Broker jailed 36 months for unauthorised trades that cost company millions[/h]SINGAPORE - A 33-year-old broker was jailed 36 months on Monday for making unauthorised trades of crude oil futures, which caused his employer to lose US$7.26 million (S$9 million).
The court heard that at about 4am on May 4, 2012, Chen Yue informed UOB Bullion and Futures (UOBBF), a wholly-owned subsidiary of UOB, that he had purchased 4,997 lots of NYMEX Light Sweet Crude Oil CLM2 futures contracts for a client.
The deal was completed the same day.


The client's account had a trading limit of 20 crude oil futures contracts, while UOBBF's brokerage account had a trading limit of 5,000 lots for crude oil futures.
Each lot represents 1,000 barrels of oil.
At about 8.45pm that night, Chen was interviewed by officers from UOBBF and UOB, but the Singapore permanent resident maintained that the trades were authorised by the client.
The next morning, however, the China national admitted to his employer that the trades were not authorised.
As a result of the unauthorised trades, UOBBF suffered a loss of US$7,285,910, or S$9,067,315, based on the exchange rate at the time of the offence.
For deceiving a futures broker in connection with the trading of futures contracts, Chen could have been fined a maximum of $250,000 and jailed up to seven years under the Securities and Futures Act.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Caught with fakes, woman got husband to hide rest of stash

Published Sep 29, 2015, 5:00 am SGT

Held at airport with nearly 500 fakes, woman got counterfeit goods at her shop removed

K.C. Vijayan
Senior Law Correspondent

A woman detained at the airport with fake goods bearing brand names such as Chanel, Cartier and Christian Dior messaged her husband to remove more fakes from her Bugis Village shop. She did not want these spotted by the police.

A district judge, underlining the seriousness of her offence, sentenced Li Na, a permanent resident, to two weeks' imprisonment for conspiring to obstruct the course of justice. She was separately sentenced to six months' jail over the fake goods offences.

"She had boldly done so despite the fact she was being detained at the airport after bringing in counterfeit goods from Guangzhou, China," said District Judge Salina Ishak in her decision grounds released last week.

Li, 40, a China national, was detained on April 29 last year at Changi Airport Terminal 2 at about 7.30am after Customs officials suspected the goods were fakes.

An assortment of almost 500 items were seized, including rings, bangles, wallets, bracelets and earrings with brand names ranging from Hermes to Yves Saint Laurent, among others.

On being alerted by Li, her 53-year-old Singaporean husband, together with a sales assistant, removed "a substantial portion" of goods including Gucci and BVLGARI fakes from her shop. Police later found them in his car boot.

Li pleaded guilty to 13 charges under the Trade Marks and Copyright Act and 26 other charges were taken into consideration in relation to the fakes seized. She had been convicted and fined $12,050 in 2008 for selling fake goods at a shop in Bugis Village and she claimed then to have stopped dealing in fakes.

But three years later, she moved to a new unit there and in 2014 imported counterfeit goods.

The judge noted she was discreet in selling the fake goods, offering them only to regular customers. The counterfeit items were hidden in a black box to avoid detection.

Li's lawyer Nirmal Singh urged the court to fine her or, at most, jail her for two months, pointing out she was the sole operator of the business, had closed the unit to show remorse and that the 861 items listed in the charges were not "big ticket" items.

He added that the mother of three children had, since 2013, collected food from markets, food centres and wholesale centres for distribution to charity homes.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jonathan Ng sought a jail term, pointing out Li was a repeat offender and had "not learnt her lesson". He noted the infringing goods involved luxury brands and the 861 items, "although not a large number, is not a small number either".

The judge held that the items were "not insubstantial" and sentenced Li to six months' jail for the fake goods offences. The court ordered two of the various jail terms, ranging from a week to four months meted out for each of the fake goods charges, to run consecutively. The remaining terms were to run concurrently. Li is appealing against the total jail term of six months and two weeks.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Thai drug trafficker spared death penalty

Published 30 September 2015

For helping the authorities, the 30-year-old woman was given life imprisonment instead

Selina Lum

A 30-year-old Thai woman, who agreed to help a Nigerian man transport "illegal stuff" from New Delhi to Bangkok via Singapore for $2,300, was spared the death penalty despite being convicted of importing 2kg of methamphetamine.

Instead, Samruamchit Wipha was given life imprisonment yesterday, after she was certified by the prosecution to have helped the authorities in a substantive way. Justice Choo Han Teck found that she "acted solely in the role of a courier".

She was detained at Changi Airport on Dec 17, 2012, with about 3kg of a crystalline substance, concealed in a false compartment in her backpack which contained clothing and shoes.
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The substance was found to contain about 2kg of methamphetamine, commonly known as Ice. Under the law, anyone convicted of trafficking in more than 250g of Ice may face the death penalty.

During her High Court trial, Samruamchit testified that she only knew she would be carrying illegal stuff for "Kelvin", a Nigerian man she had met two months earlier. He approached her at a cafe in Bangkok, after she quarrelled with her Italian boyfriend over the phone.

Kelvin was very nice to her and they had sex, although she did not consider him her boyfriend.

She testified that she had delivered a bag containing clothes for Kelvin within Thailand. This led her to believe that the "illegal stuff" she was tasked to deliver were the clothes and shoes in the backpack.

But Justice Choo rejected her defence that she was unaware the backpack contained drugs, given that she had made various references to drugs in her statements to the Central Narcotics Bureau.

Samruamchit claimed that the Thai interpreter made a mistake in translation, but the judge noted that the Thai words for "drugs" and "illegal stuff" do not sound alike at all.

Justice Choo was also not satisfied that she really believed she would be paid $2,300 just to deliver a pile of inexpensive clothes and shoes, none of which were branded items.

"The evidence shows that she had agreed to carry the drugs from New Delhi to Bangkok via Singapore, and that she was to be paid for that service," he said.

New laws that took effect in 2013 gave judges the discretion to sentence drug couriers to life imprisonment instead of death, if they substantively assisted the authorities.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Company GM jailed for taking upskirt videos of women at supermarket

Lee, who faced 11 charges, admitted to four counts of insulting modesty on May 9 and 10 this year.

Published Sep 29, 2015, 1:31 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A South Korean man was jailed for seven weeks on Tuesday for taking upskirt videos at the NTUC Finest supermarket in Bukit Timah Plaza.

Lee Bok Yeon, 50, would place his two mobile phones in a shopping basket and approach women in skirts.

The then general manager of a company which is in the restaurant business, was nabbed when the boyfriend of one of his victims caught him in the act.
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Lee Bok Yeon was jailed for seven weeks on Tuesday for taking upskirt videos at the NTUC Finest supermarket in Bukit Timah Plaza. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

The court heard that on May 10, at about 3.30pm, a 25-year-old woman was doing grocery shopping with her boyfriend, aged 24, at the supermarket when the latter noticed Lee standing close to her.

The boyfriend noticed that whenever she bent down to choose vegetables, Lee would follow suit.

He also noticed that Lee had placed his shopping basket near her skirt. The boyfriend also saw two mobile phones in Lee's shopping basket, one of which had its camera lens facing upwards.

Suspecting that Lee had taken an upskirt video, he confronted Lee and grabbed his mobile phone from the basket. Lee denied taking any upskirt videos and tried to snatch the device back.

The phone fell to the ground and the boyfriend picked it up and handed it to a security guard. However, the guard returned the phone to Lee who ran off.

The boyfriend ran after Lee and managed to hold on to him, with the help of members of the public. Lee then threw the phone onto the ground, smashing it such that it could not be turned on. Forensic investigations showed the phone had captured an upskirt video of the woman.

Another video clip was also extracted from the phone.

Investigations revealed that Lee had similarly recorded an upskirt video of an unknown woman earlier, as well as two upskirt videos of unknown women on May 9. He had targeted them after walking around the supermarket.

Pleading for leniency, Lee, with his head bowed, said he wished to apologise to the victims and to his family for his impulsive acts.

A first-time offender, he said he regretted what he had done and felt very ashamed. He added that his actions had caused his family to suffer.

"I lost my job, and my children also do not have the chance to go to school because I lost my job,'' he said through a Korean interpreter.

He could have been jailed for up to one year and fined for insulting modesty.

 

[GeneralHavoc]

Man who walked across F1 race track released on personal bond of $15K

Dhokia must surrender any travel document and report to the investigation officer at Central police station at least daily.ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

Published Oct 2, 2015, 3:47 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - The man who walked across the race track during the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix was allowed to be out on personal bond of $15,000 on Friday (Oct 2).

Briton Yogvitam Pravin Dhokia's lawyer Shashi Nathan, who was briefed earlier this week, applied successfully for the 27-year-old's bail to be varied. His parents were in court.

Counsel made the unusual application of asking that Dhokia be released "on his own cognisance''.

Under the conditions of bail, agreed to by both defence and prosecution, Dhokia must surrender any travel document and report to the investigation officer at Central police station at least daily. He must also reside with his parents at a local hotel and his movements must be made known to the investigation officer at all times or at the officer's discretion.

Dhokia was produced in court last Tuesday for acting rashly to endanger the safety of the F1 drivers involved in the race near Turn 13 along Esplanade Drive at about 9pm on Sept 20.

The case scheduled originally for Oct 6 is now fixed for pre-trial conference on Oct 16.

If convicted, Dhokia could be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $2,500 .

Singapore Grand Prix organisers are considering tighter security for next year's race, with higher fences and more marshals.