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Poverty is no excuse to commit crime, says Judge
Published on Oct 21, 2013
By Khushwant Singh
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Financial hardship cannot be an excuse to commit crime, said District Judge Eddy Tham on Monday when sentencing Ricky Foo Kee Kiong, 31, to five months in jail and a $30,000 fine.
The 31-year-old had pleaded guilty to obstructing the course of justice by acting as a lookout for a Geylang vice syndicate, living on the earnings of prostitution, and assisting a loan shark. His lawyer in his defence said that his client was "trapped in poverty" and had to pay his mother's medial bills.
He was being investigated for performing fund transfers and cash withdrawals for a loan shark when he went to work for a pimp in March last year. His role was to ride his motorcycle in the Geylang area and warn the pimp of any police presence. For this, he was paid $50 a day. He was arrested on July 13 last year. While out on police bail he became a pimp.
He was found out when police officers raided a lodging house at Jalan Molek in Geylang on Sept 6 last year and detained two Vietnamese prostitutes. Foo's cell phone number surfaced during investigations and one of the women told police that she had handed about $900 of her prostitution earnings to him between Aug 4 and Sept 6 last year.
Get the full story from The Straits Times.
