THE prosecution described him as an “unrepentant and recalcitrant offender”.
Mohd Haslam Ismail had a particular way of snaring his victims, and he has been using it since 1993.
He would hunt down women at watering holes, charm them and spike their drinks with a sedative.
Then he would rob them.
Even though Mohd Haslam had been thrown in jail for spiking the drinks of women from China to Uzbekistan since 1999, he was undeterred.
After each prison term, Mohd Haslam would be back on the prowl for his next victim.
Yesterday, the divorced father of three was sentenced to six years of corrective training for spiking the drink of a Chinese national and stealing her belongings.
Corrective training is a harsher prison regime for repeat offenders. There is no remission for good behaviour.
His latest victim was Ms Chen Xiaorong, 38, a Chinese national whom he met near Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road.
Mohd Haslam introduced himself as a tourist from Dubai. They walked to The Heeren and he bought her a drink at 1.30am on Jan 13.
But Mohd Haslam, 48, was really an unemployed Singaporean.
Ms Chen didn’t know that and even found him to be charming.
But after she had her drink, she found herself “in a daze”.
Mohd Haslam then took her by taxi to the Fragrance Hotel Crystal in Geylang.
Video footage showed him checking in with the dazed-looking Ms Chen.
When she awoke, she realised that Mohd Haslam was gone – along with $350 in cash, a $3,600 Rolex watch and a $200 mobile phone.
The prosecution revealed that Mohd Haslam had drugged Ms Chen with midazolam, which was found in her blood.
The drug is used to treat acute seizures and moderate to severe insomnia. It is also used to induce sedation and amnesia before medical procedures.
Midazolam is the main ingredient in Dormicum, a prescription sedative.
It is not known how Mohd Haslam got his hands on this drug.
After robbing Ms Chen, he sold the mobile phone at a shop, which proved to be his downfall.
Police were able to trace him because he used his own identity card during the transaction, court documents revealed.
The law caught up with him after he was arrested on Feb 21.
He found another person’s identity card on board a bus and used it to get into Marina Bay Sands casino.
He had pleaded guilty to this charge and could have been fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed up to 10 years.
Ms Chen wasn’t his only victim.
Mohd Haslam also stole $1,470 and a $342 mobile phone from another woman from China whom he drugged on Dec 27 last year in a hotel room in Geylang.
These offences will be taken into consideration by the judge in sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sanjiv Vaswani told the court that Mohd Haslam was a creature of habit.
In 1999, he served nine months for drugging a 26-year-old woman from Uzbekistan and stealing her belongings.
They had met in a discotheque on Orchard Road before he drugged and robbed her in a hotel room in Geylang.
Soon after coming out of jail, he targeted a Vietnamese, 27, and a Filipina, 28, and also stole their money and mobile phones.
He was later jailed two years.
But he went back into the hunt when he got out.
His next three victims were from China and Vietnam, aged between 27 and 30. For drugging and stealing from them, he was jailed three years in March 2009.
Mohd Haslam looked worried before sentencing in court yesterday.
Last month, he had told District Judge Jasbendar Kaur that he wanted to engage counsel to plead for a lighter sentence.
He did not have a lawyer during his four-day trial but decided he wanted to hire one after the prosecution deemed him suitable for corrective training.
The New Paper understands that Mohd Haslam’s first brush with the law was in 1982 for various offences.
He was 19 then.
In 1996, he was jailed 18 months and given six strokes of the cane for assault with a dangerous weapon.
PRC women at lucky plaza in the wee hours
