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Jailed for preying on China prostitutes
By Crystal Chan
February 09, 2009
VULNERABLE: Yew Kin Wah picked up prostitutes in Geylang and took them to car parks where they had sex. The women did not report the thefts because they were soliciting illegally.
HE would pose as a customer seeking sex.
And on the pretext of avoiding hotel charges, he would suggest to prostitutes that they have sex in open car parks in industrial estates, for $50.
He used this ploy four times on mainland Chinese prostitutes.
Not only would Yew Kin Wah, 39, leave without paying, he also drove off with their handbags. For that, Yew, who is unemployed, was jailed two years.
He was also jailed another nine months for driving while under disqualification and for possessing duty-unpaid cigarettes.
Court papers showed Yew began targeting the prostitutes on 22 Jul last year, when he made off with a prostitute's handbag, which contained her passport, handphone and ATM card.
He did the same thing to another prostitute at 5.30am on 9 Aug.
As the prostitutes were soliciting illegally, they did not report Yew to the police for fear of exposing their illegal activity.
This allowed Yew to carry on with his spree.
TNP FILE PICTURE
The following month, Yew picked up prostitutes twice in Geylang.
Around 5am on 4 Sep, he approached a prostitute at Lorong 33 and, after agreeing on a fee, he drove her to an open car park in Aljunied Industrial estate, where they had sex outside his car.
The prostitute left her handbag in Yew's car and he drove off with her belongings at 5.30am, leaving her behind. The handbag contained $600 in cash, an ATM card and a handphone.
Five days later, Yew picked up another prostitute around 4am at Lorong 27 Geylang and drove her to an open car park in Geylang East Industrial Estate.
After having sex outside his car, he drove off with her handbag, which contained a plane ticket, her passport, $360 in cash, a handphone and some foreign currency.
At the time of the offences, Yew was also under a driving ban. He had been banned from driving for 18 months from 24 Oct, 2007. And he had no motor insurance coverage.
His crimes came to light when he was checked by police officers around noon on 18 Sep last year.
Contraband cigarettes were also found on him.
He claimed he had bought them from a peddler in Lorong 14 Geylang.
Yew pleaded guilty to six charges, including theft. Six other charges were taken into consideration.
He was jailed a total of 33 months and disqualified from driving for four years.
He was also fined $1,200 for having two packs of contraband cigarettes.
District Judge Lee Poh Choo noted that Yew's spree began almost immediately after serving a six-month prison sentence for house-breaking, theft and voluntarily causing hurt.
Judge slams tall tale
YEW Kin Wah tried to show himself as the victim in his mitigation plea, but the judge did not buy it.
Yew's lawyer, Mr Laurence Goh, claimed that normally, Yew would take the prostitutes back to where he picked them up from.
He said Yew's marriage was strained and he resorted to picking up prostitutes as his wife had ended their sexual relationship.
But, according to the mitigation plea, on all four occasions, Yew's condoms broke during sex and the prostitutes demanded extra payment.
Mr Goh claimed his client had only $50 and when he could not pay more, the prostitutes assaulted him and refused to let him leave.
It was to prevent being beaten further, claimed the lawyer, that Yew drove off and threw their handbags out of his car.
He claimed that in some cases, Yew found their handphones in his car, but did not know how to return them to the women.
But District Judge Lee Poh Choo wrote in her judgement last month that all this was too much of a coincidence.
Judge Lee wrote: 'It was peculiar that Yew, after the first unpleasant experience when the condom burst and the prostitute assaulted him because he couldn't make additional payments, didn't take any precautionary step - even the simple step of ensuring he had additional money to pay the next prostitute.
Despicable
'Instead, he alleged the incidents were repeated again and again with different prostitutes on all the four occasions.'
She noted that the prostitutes were in a vulnerable position as they would be blowing their own cover by reporting Yew to the police.
'It (the offence) was aggravating as Yew repeated the despicable act on a number of occasions. He had no qualms about leaving the female foreign victims in isolated places, sparing no thoughts for their plight,' the judge wrote.
Jailed for preying on China prostitutes
By Crystal Chan
February 09, 2009
VULNERABLE: Yew Kin Wah picked up prostitutes in Geylang and took them to car parks where they had sex. The women did not report the thefts because they were soliciting illegally.
HE would pose as a customer seeking sex.
And on the pretext of avoiding hotel charges, he would suggest to prostitutes that they have sex in open car parks in industrial estates, for $50.
He used this ploy four times on mainland Chinese prostitutes.
Not only would Yew Kin Wah, 39, leave without paying, he also drove off with their handbags. For that, Yew, who is unemployed, was jailed two years.
He was also jailed another nine months for driving while under disqualification and for possessing duty-unpaid cigarettes.
Court papers showed Yew began targeting the prostitutes on 22 Jul last year, when he made off with a prostitute's handbag, which contained her passport, handphone and ATM card.
He did the same thing to another prostitute at 5.30am on 9 Aug.
As the prostitutes were soliciting illegally, they did not report Yew to the police for fear of exposing their illegal activity.
This allowed Yew to carry on with his spree.
TNP FILE PICTURE
The following month, Yew picked up prostitutes twice in Geylang.
Around 5am on 4 Sep, he approached a prostitute at Lorong 33 and, after agreeing on a fee, he drove her to an open car park in Aljunied Industrial estate, where they had sex outside his car.
The prostitute left her handbag in Yew's car and he drove off with her belongings at 5.30am, leaving her behind. The handbag contained $600 in cash, an ATM card and a handphone.
Five days later, Yew picked up another prostitute around 4am at Lorong 27 Geylang and drove her to an open car park in Geylang East Industrial Estate.
After having sex outside his car, he drove off with her handbag, which contained a plane ticket, her passport, $360 in cash, a handphone and some foreign currency.
At the time of the offences, Yew was also under a driving ban. He had been banned from driving for 18 months from 24 Oct, 2007. And he had no motor insurance coverage.
His crimes came to light when he was checked by police officers around noon on 18 Sep last year.
Contraband cigarettes were also found on him.
He claimed he had bought them from a peddler in Lorong 14 Geylang.
Yew pleaded guilty to six charges, including theft. Six other charges were taken into consideration.
He was jailed a total of 33 months and disqualified from driving for four years.
He was also fined $1,200 for having two packs of contraband cigarettes.
District Judge Lee Poh Choo noted that Yew's spree began almost immediately after serving a six-month prison sentence for house-breaking, theft and voluntarily causing hurt.
Judge slams tall tale
YEW Kin Wah tried to show himself as the victim in his mitigation plea, but the judge did not buy it.
Yew's lawyer, Mr Laurence Goh, claimed that normally, Yew would take the prostitutes back to where he picked them up from.
He said Yew's marriage was strained and he resorted to picking up prostitutes as his wife had ended their sexual relationship.
But, according to the mitigation plea, on all four occasions, Yew's condoms broke during sex and the prostitutes demanded extra payment.
Mr Goh claimed his client had only $50 and when he could not pay more, the prostitutes assaulted him and refused to let him leave.
It was to prevent being beaten further, claimed the lawyer, that Yew drove off and threw their handbags out of his car.
He claimed that in some cases, Yew found their handphones in his car, but did not know how to return them to the women.
But District Judge Lee Poh Choo wrote in her judgement last month that all this was too much of a coincidence.
Judge Lee wrote: 'It was peculiar that Yew, after the first unpleasant experience when the condom burst and the prostitute assaulted him because he couldn't make additional payments, didn't take any precautionary step - even the simple step of ensuring he had additional money to pay the next prostitute.
Despicable
'Instead, he alleged the incidents were repeated again and again with different prostitutes on all the four occasions.'
She noted that the prostitutes were in a vulnerable position as they would be blowing their own cover by reporting Yew to the police.
'It (the offence) was aggravating as Yew repeated the despicable act on a number of occasions. He had no qualms about leaving the female foreign victims in isolated places, sparing no thoughts for their plight,' the judge wrote.
