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www.corpun.com : Archive : 2000 : SG Judicial Feb 2000

-- THE ARCHIVE --

SINGAPORE
Judicial CP - February 2000

The New Paper, Singapore, 2 February 2000

Thief of Yishun

He broke into stalls, vending machines and coin phones from schools in the area

BY CHUA WEI YNG

LIWATSARI Saibi liked to hang around in the school canteen long after school was over.

But at 36, he was clearly no schoolboy.

In September last year, he broke into 12 schools in the Yishun area under the cover of darkness.

Liwatsari (left), who had previous convictions for theft and consumption of drugs, hit the 11 schools - Peixin Primary School, Chong Fu Primary School, Yishun Institute of Education, Northland Secondary School, Jiemin Primary School, Yishun Town Secondary School, Hua Min Primary School, North View Secondary, Yishun Junior College, Northland Primary and Ahmad Ibrahim Primary School - in rapid succession, within a few days of the previous break-in.

He broke into Peixin Primary School twice - on Sept 1 and Sept 16.

If the canteen was secured, like in the case of Jiemin Primary School and Huamin Primary School, Liwatsari would just use his trusty screwdrivers to force open the roller shutters.

Once inside the schools, he headed straight for the vending machines and coin phones.

Just like hitting the jackpot, Liwatsari would empty the machines of all their coins.

And he didn't have to rely on Lady Luck.

Armed with the screwdrivers, Liwatsari prised open the sides of the coinphones and vending machines located in the canteens.

He didn't bother with the drinks though.

BOOKSHOP

He preferred to steal from the refrigerator inside the stall.

The school bookshop, in the canteen of Yishun Institute of Education, was not safe either.

Liwatsari broke open the glass doors but the cash register was empty, so he took some batteries instead.

His coin collecting spree finally came to an end when police laid an ambush for him at Northland Primary School.

And like a true gambler, Liwatsari even had 17 4D tickets and seven pawnshop tickets on him when he was arrested on Sept 26.

None of the money was recovered, as he had already spent it on drugs and his daily expenses.

In court, a clean-shaven Liwatsari also pleaded guilty to consuming heroin at the fourth floor landing of a flat in Yishun Ring Road.

JAILED

LIWATSARI Saibi was jailed nine years and given five strokes of the cane for four charges of housebreaking by night and consuming morphine.

He could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined and given six strokes of the cane.

The New Paper, Singapore, 9 February 2000

ARY SUGENG JOHAN JOHARI NANANG ANAN	Foreign trio's daring robbery JUDGE PASSES HEAVY SENTENCE AS A WARNING TO ALL FOREIGN CRIMINALS BY LEONG MAY LING SHE was half way up the stairs of her home in the early hours of the morning when the nightmare began. Three masked men pounced on Miss Phyllis Ong, 23, and put one knife to her throat. The entire family was tied up, and the robbers left the Phoenix Road house with loot worth more than $90,000. Easy, the three Indonesians must have thought. All that remained was a short ferry ride home. But they overlooked one thing - the Singapore police. They now face a long jail term and the cane. Ary Sugeng, 25, Johan Johari, 25, and Nanang Anan, 21, had found the sliding door of the house open at 2.45am on Oct 17 last year. They climbed over the fence, entered the house and went into the kitchen. They took a knife, and used it to make masks for themselves from cushion covers and a T-shirt in the house. Then they went upstairs to look for valuables. But they heard someone closing the door downstairs. It was Miss Ong. Nanang placed a knife at her throat and gestured to her to keep quiet. She was forced to lead the robbers to where some cash and valuables were kept, in a storeroom. They then raided her room as well as her 13-year-old brother's. In Terence Ong's room, the robbers cut up some computer cables and used them to tie up the hands of the two siblings. Miss Ong was then directed to lead Nanang and Ary to her parents' room. With a knife at her throat, she was forced to ask her parents to open the door. CANAL Johan then took Terence into the room and threatened to harm the boy unless the parents cooperated. The robbers tied up the whole family, using shoelaces, rope and the telephone cord. They also used clothing to cover the faces of their victims before ransacking the room. They left the house with cash, watches and jewellery worth $92,625. Then they went to a nearby canal to distribute the loot. At 6am, they took a taxi to the World Trade Centre to catch a ferry to Indonesia. But police arrested them at 6.40 am and recovered $66,125 worth of stolen items. A diamond ring, a diamond earring and an antique watch could not be found. The three robbers were in court on Feb 2, charged with armed robbery. Senior District Judge Richard Magnus said their sentence would have to send a message to foreign criminals that crime in Singapore does not pay.

JAILED Ary Sugeng, Johan Johari and Nanang Anan were each sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane. The maximum sentence for each charge of armed robbery is five years and 12 strokes of the cane.

Copyright © 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Straits Times, Singapore, 9 February 2000

He hid Ecstasy pills under taxi mat

A YOUTH who tried to smuggle 50 Ecstasy tablets into Singapore under the rubber mat of a taxi was sentenced to jail and caning yesterday. The drugs, which Chua Aik Yong, 20, had bought in Johor Baru, were found when police at the Woodlands Checkpoint conducted a random check of the taxi he was travelling in at about 11.30 pm on Sept 17. A sample of his urine was also found to contain traces of amphetamine.

Chua pleaded guilty in a district court yesterday to importing a Class A controlled drug and to two other counts of taking drugs.

He was sentenced to 7½ years' jail and five strokes of the cane in all.

Another drug importation charge was considered during sentencing.

The court heard that Chua had also been found to have taken drugs four months earlier.

That happened when police raided two chalets at East Coast Parkway Costa Sands Resort at about 12.30 am on May 12. The accused and 11 others were arrested and their urine samples tested.

Chua's urine had traces of amphetamine.

The 11 others are being dealt with separately.

Pleading for leniency, lawyer S.S. Dhillon, said his client had studied only up to Secondary 1.

He said Chua had bought the 50 Ecstasy tablets in Johor Baru for S$600 for his personal consumption.

He added that his client was remorseful.

The penalty for importing drugs ranges from five years' jail and five strokes of the cane to 30 years' jail and 15 strokes of the cane.

Straits Times, Singapore, 12 February 2000

Man rapes girl after they sniff glue

An unemployed man is sentenced to 18 years' jail and the cane for tying up his friend's 21-year-old girlfriend and forcing her to have anal sex

By Alethea Lim

AN UNEMPLOYED man raped his friend's 21-year-old girlfriend and forced her to have anal sex after a glue-sniffing session last year.

Tan Lye Meng, 28, committed the offences a day after he was released on bail for threatening his estranged wife, the High Court heard yesterday. Tan pleaded guilty to raping the girl and forcing her to have anal sex at his flat in Block 121, Yuan Ching Road, on June 12. Before sentencing Tan, Justice M. P. H Rubin said that Tan had raped and sodomised his victim "for a few moments of gratification" and to satisfy his "animal instincts".

He then sentenced Tan to 18 years' jail and 22 strokes of the cane for the rape charge, and nine years' imprisonment for the other offence. The sentences are to run concurrently.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Toh Yung Cheong told the court that on Aug 12, the victim had called Tan's flat to speak to his brother, whom Tan said was not in.

The girl knew Tan and his brother through her boyfriend, who had been in the same secret society.

Thinking that Tan's brother would return to the flat, the victim decided to go there, carrying with her a can of glue.

She then sniffed glue with Tan in his uncle's bedroom.

Later that night, Tan persuaded the victim to stay with him by tempting her with a trip to a disco to meet a mutual friend.

But she fell asleep on a mattress in the room because she was tired.

When she awoke, she found herself naked and tied up with masking tape.

She screamed and struggled, but Tan hit her face repeatedly and taped her mouth with masking tape.

He then threatened her with a knife, saying in Hokkien: "Don't think that I do not dare to kill you."

Tan raped the girl and forced her to have anal sex before letting her go.

The victim told her parents about the incident, and Tan was arrested the next day. In mitigation, his lawyer, Mr Thomas Tham, said his client had been sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre three times.

Tan had also been sent to jail for eight months for criminal intimidation in 1998.

After the glue-sniffing session, the lawyer said, his client had lost control of himself and committed the offences.

Straits Times, Singapore, 19 February 2000

Jail for raping sister-in-law, 14

A clerk, 19, who had developed a 'liking' for his sister-in-law and raped her was sentenced to eight years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane

By Alethea Lim

A WAREHOUSE clerk who molested and raped his 14-year-old sister-in-law was sentenced to a total of eight years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

The 19-year-old rapist, who pleaded guilty to a rape charge and a molest charge, cannot be named as this would identify the victim.

Judicial Commissioner Tay Yong Kwang sentenced the rapist to eight years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for the rape charge and six months for the molest count. The sentences will run concurrently.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Imran Abdul Hamid told the High Court yesterday that the accused and his wife went to live with her family in Hougang when she became pregnant.

On March 6, when the man went for an overnight fishing trip, his wife asked her sister, the victim, to sleep in her bedroom.

At about 5 am the next day, the husband returned and slept beside his wife.

But when she left the bed for a while, he molested the girl by squeezing her breasts. He stopped when his wife returned.

Scared and embarrassed, the girl did not tell her parents or her sister about the incident, as she did not want to create a conflict between her sister and brother-in-law.

She also could not believe her brother-in-law would molest her and was hopeful that it was a one-off incident.

But two days later, at about 1.20 am on March 9, he molested her while she was sleeping in her room.

She did not dare to open her eyes or move, and did not know what to do, the DPP said.

He added that the accused, "emboldened by the victim's fearful inaction", continued molesting her.

"He even asked her how she felt," he said.

But the victim was too scared to respond. He then raped her and the girl tried to push him off but was overpowered.

When she went to school later that morning, she told her friends about the incident, but still kept it from her parents.

Finally, she confided in the mother of one of her friends, who called the victim's father and told him the truth.

The girl reported the molest and rape to the police on the same day and her brother-in-law was arrested on March 11.

In mitigation, the man's lawyer, Mr S.S. Dhillon, said that his client developed a "liking" for his sister-in-law and committed the offences in a "moment of weakness".

Straits Times, Singapore, 24 February 2000

Teen molester, 16, gets jail and cane

By Elena Chong

HE IS just 16, but that did not stop waiter Lim Lian Hock from molesting older women.

He attacked three women, aged between 27 and 41, mostly near his Queenstown home, between December and early this month.

He also attacked a 14-year-old girl in a lift, and threatened to stab her when she screamed and fought him off.

He was arrested by police on Feb 8, after he molested a 27-year-old woman by squeezing her breast. Her brother spotted him hiding on the 14th floor of a block of flats and called the police.

Earlier the same day, Lee had molested a 41-year-old Caucasian housewife, who was walking her baby in a pram, in Strathmore Avenue, where he lived.

Inspector Balbindar Singh, prosecuting, told the court that on Dec 3 last year, a 30-year-old woman was walking towards a bus stop along Alexandra Road at about 6.30 am, when Lee came from behind and pulled her dress, tearing it.

He then grabbed her. She shouted and struggled, but he squeezed her breasts. On Feb 3, a 14-year-old schoolgirl was returning home when she saw Lee behaving suspiciously at the void deck.

She got into the lift alone, but when it stopped on the second floor, Lee entered and pointed a knife at her.

She screamed. He tried to gag her with a piece of cloth and raised the knife as if to stab her, but she struggled.

Just then, the lift door closed, hitting him. He fled.

Yesterday, the unkempt teenager pleaded guilty to the four charges before District Judge Seng Kwang Boon, who sentenced him to a total of 37 months' jail and nine strokes of the cane.

The judge imposed the minimum 24 months and three strokes for causing wrongful restraint while molesting the 30-year-old administrative assistant.

For pressing or squeezing the breast of the two women, Lee was sentenced to nine months and three strokes on each of the two charges.

He was given four months for criminal intimidation.

Three of the sentences are to run consecutively. Pleading for leniency, Lee, who was unrepresented, said he realised his mistake.

Molest is punishable with up to two years' jail and a fine or caning. The maximum penalty for intimidation is seven years and a fine.

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