Corpun file 24481 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 5 June 2013, p.B7

'Chopper robber' jailed after five years on the run

Victims traumatised, says judge; serial crook gets 24 strokes of the cane

By Khushwant Singh

A ROBBER who went on the run after a series of violent raids was yesterday sentenced to 9½ years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

Yoong Hung Siong, 45, fled to Malaysia in 2007 after being arrested over the three robberies, one of which involved an accomplice threatening to cut off a salon owner's tongue if she did not stop screaming.

But he was discovered and handed to the Singapore authorities in January this year.

He pleaded guilty to 13 charges including robbery, theft, immigration and traffic offences. Sentencing him, District Judge Jasbendar Kaur said: "The trauma the victims had been put through was very serious."

The court heard Yoong and accomplice Lew Chee Wee were wearing balaclavas and armed with choppers when they barged into the salon in Chai Chee in May 2007.

They pulled down the metal shutters, cut off the phone line and forced the owner to strip naked and stay in the toilet.

Then they robbed her salon of $21,500 worth of cash and valuables.

Just six hours earlier, Yoong had targeted a cyber cafe in Jalan Eunos. Armed with a knife, he and accomplice Ng Eng Hoe, 46 -- who was carrying a car jack -- forced the proprietor and his friend to strip and lie on the floor, before making off with $6,000 in cash, cellphones and computers.

Click to enlarge

Six days later, the pair picked up two prostitutes in Geylang and robbed them at a carpark in Stadium Road.

When one of the women struggled and bit Ng's arm, he slashed her arm and leg with a penknife.

They escaped with nearly $3,000 in cash and valuables.

Yoong -- who also stole five gold arowana fish worth a total of $10,000 from a house in Bedok -- was arrested on June 10, 2007.

Three months later, he jumped bail and used a friend's passport to flee to Malaysia, where he worked in a restaurant and sent money to his wife and two children.

Defence counsel Ong Peng Boon said his client had resorted to crime to support his siblings and to pay the medical bills of one of his children, who was sick.

Arguing for a stiff sentence, Assistant Public Prosecutor Prakash Ram Otharam listed Yoong's previous convictions for theft, rioting and drug consumption since 1981.

For committing a single offence of robbery with hurt, he could have been jailed for up to 20 years and caned 24 times.

Ng was sentenced to 5½ years' jail and 24 strokes in August 2007. Lew, 40, is still at large.

Corpun file 24583 at www.corpun.com

The New Paper, Singapore, 20 June 2013

Jail, caning for celeb chef who sexually abused boy

By Shaffiq Alkhatib

Muhammad Mustaqim Juri
PICTURE: Berita Harian

SINGAPORE - A former celebrity chef was on Thursday jailed for sexually abusing a boy.

Muhammad Mustaqim Juri, 35, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and three strokes of the cane.

He had pleaded guilty on May 9 to three charges of sexually abusing the boy, who was 13 at the time of the offence on Sept 20, 2011.

Muhammad Mustaqim got to know the boy's mother through her flatmate, who was his friend.

When he learnt that the victim behaved in an effeminate manner, which led to teasing by neighbours, he offered to give the boy a "man-to-man" talk.

The boy followed him to his flat and was sexually abused and sodomised twice over a six-hour period. Afterwards, Muhammad Mustaqim even told the boy's mother that he wanted to take the youngster out again in future and gave the boy $4.

Because he was still in pain, the boy told his mother about his ordeal and the police arrested Muhammad Mustaqim.

During sentencing, District Judge Liew Thiam Leng said Muhammad Mustaqim had taken advantage of the fact that the victim was at a vulnerable age and subject to influence by an older person.

The repeated acts, though committed on the same day, were a result of deception by the man, Judge Liew said, adding that the victim has yet to recover from the incident.

Muhammad Mustaqim shot to fame in 2007 when he emerged the runner up of a Malay-language culinary competition on TV called Chef Selebriti.

Copyright © 2011 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.