Dentist Sng Wee Hock has been fined $15,000 for wrongly telling a patient that the full cost of her implant could be paid for by Medisave.
 
Dr Sng, who works at WH Dental Surgeons, which has clinics at Punggol and Hougang, denied the charge, reports The Straits Times.
 
The Singapore Dental Council however, judged otherwise. It said what he did amounted to professional misconduct "because the misrepresentation made was likely to have an impact on a patient's decision to undergo the treatment".
 
Dr Sng was also censured and has to undertake not to repeat the offence. He has to pay 80 per cent of the council's cost incurred.

A Singaporean man, Razali Osman, climbed into the 5th storey bedroom window of his tenant, a 31 year old foreigner working in Singapore, in an attempt to rape her while she was asleep.

On Monday, the 43 year old man was sentenced to jail for 20 years and ordered to be caned 24 strokes for his sexual assault charges as well as housebreaking.

Razali has already been in the jail for 2 decades back in 1993 for raping three women and robbing two of those women. One of the girls he raped was actually his girlfriend's sister whom he said he had developed a sexual fetish for.

Justice Chan Seng Onn who was sentencing him said that it was undeniable that he was a serial rapist at heart.

The latest incident took place when he moved in with his sister into her flat and he had developed sexual fantasies for her 31 year old tenant living there. However, the tenant rejected him as she said that she had a fiance back in her home country. In October 2012, he then gave into his urges and climbed out of the living room window of the flat and into the bedroom window of the tenant's room.

Once inside the room, he touched her while she was sleeping and when she woke up, he tried to rape her but eventually stopped.

He was last released from prison in Feburary 2012.

*photo for illustrative purposes only

A technician was brazen enough to commit crime right at the doorstep of the law enforcement headquarters by filming a woman employee using the toilet.
 
The victim turned out to be a police sergeant and on Wednesday, Ling Jia Hui, 24, was sentenced to a two-week short detention order and a nine-month day reporting order, reports The Straits Times. 
 
He had pleaded guilty last year to trespassing in a women's toilet in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) building in New Phoenix Park and insulting the modesty of the 28-year-old victim by filming her relieving herself. He had committed these offences while he was doing cabling work at the building near Novena on June 6, 2012. A third charge of insulting the modesty of another woman by calling her on the phone and asking her for her breast size on May 7, 2012, was taken into consideration by District Judge Ng Peng Hong in passing sentence.
 
A diagnosis by the Institute of Mental Health indicated that Ling suffers from recurrent sexual fantasies, urges and behaviour, which involve non-consenting women. He had told psychiatrists there that he had the "urge" to take videos of unsuspecting women relieving themselves since November 2011 when he was deployed to MHA by his company. He also admitted to calling other women and telling them he had up-skirt pictures of them so as to humiliate them.
 
Defence counsel Lim Kia Tong had argued for Ling to be placed on probation or sentenced to a mandatory treatment order but Judge Ng said that the offences were committed within the premises of a law enforcement agency so there was a need to send the right signal with a deterrent sentence.

Anthony Tan Kim Hock,66,  the former principal of Maris Stella High is appealing against his conviction of corruption.

He was found guilty of embezzling $67,700 worth of school funds to renovate a house not linked with the school last year.

His lawyer is arguing that the judge had not been impartial and his behaviour had indicated that the judge had already made up his mind that Tan was guilty before the trial had finished.

One of the points raised was the fact that the judge had intervened many times during the questioning of the witnesses and asked many of his own questions which is not usually the case.

However, the prosecution argues that it is well within the rights of the judge to clarify points during witness questioning.

Tan maintains that the money could be used for the renovation of Champagnat House, which is the residence  of his Catholic order in Flower Road. He argued that there was no dishonest intention as the funds belonged to the Marist Brothers as an extension of the school being opened by them.

The prosecution is also appealing the case arguing that the original 5 month sentence was too short. They believe a 10 month sentence is appropriate.

The decision of the appeal judge is to be given at a later date. In the meantime, Tan is still out on bail.

The trial of the 6 city harvest church leaders accused of misappropriating $24 million of church funds and then using a further $26 million to cover it up continues today with all 6 appearing in court again this morning.

The prosecution has a new witness, Ms Tiang Yii, the accountant at Baker Tilly, the firm that used to audit CHC's accounts.

The 6 leaders had allegedly played a role in pumping church building funds into companies Xtron and Firna to boost the music career of Kong Hee's wife, Sun Ho. Both companies are owned by a close friend of the church, Mr Wahju Hanafi.

The offences are believed to have occurred between 2007 and 2008 and the 6 on trial are Kong Hee, John Lam, Chew Eng Han, Tan Ye Peng, Serina Wee and Sharon Tan.

45 year old Lim Ghim Peow admitted to killing his ex girlfriend by dousing her in petrol and setting her on fire in May of 2012.

Ms Mary Yoong Mei Ling, 43, was at her aunt's flat in Sengkang at the time of the incident.

Lim pleaded guilty to the charge of culpable homicide in court today.

The court heard that Lim, who was a taxi driver that also ran a gambling den, had been in a  turbulent relationship with Ms Yoong. They were both divorcees who started living together in 2008.

However, following Lim's increasing possessiveness, Ms Yoong had broken off the relationship in 2011.

Despite his begging, she did not want to take him back and so he decided to set her on fire. Ms Yoong died 12 hours later from her injuries.

It was heard that Lim suffered from a major depressive disorder.

He will be sentenced on the 27th of January.

2 PRC nationals were sentenced to jail today (13 Jan) for a string of premeditated house break-ins.

Liu Qiangde, 32 was sentenced to 7 and a half years jail while his friend Cheng Yuncai, 33, was sentenced to 5 and a half years jail.

It was heard that the two men had come to Singapore specifically to break into houses and steal valuables.

Chen had noted that the walls in Singapore's landed properties were lower than those used in China and he believed that it would be much easier to break into houses here compared to China.

The two men were friends and knew of the other's house-breaking but usually worked alone when they broke into houses either at night or during the early morning.

They stole small valuables such as branded watches, iPads, Phones, cash, and jewellery.

They were linked to the various crimes by DNA samples taken from them and it was found that they had been breaking into houses as early as 2007. 

A prison officer landed himself behind bars on Monday for passing a document to an inmate and taking out a copy of a letter sent to the inmate, reports The Straits Times. 
 
Parameswaran Selvadurai, 35, a Malaysian, was sentenced to two weeks' jail after admitting to two charges under the Prisons Act. A third similar charge was considered during his sentencing.
 
As a personal supervisor at Changi Prison, he was not supposed to convey messages or instructions by an inmate to his family members.
 
Any request made would have to be registered into the prison's database and submitted to his superiors for approval. All letters addressed to inmates are also registered in the database.
 
In February 2010, Parameswaran came to know Sashikumar Rathakrishnan who was detained in the maximum security cluster for being involved in secret society activities. Even though he was not Sashikumar's personal supervisor, he told him that he could approach him if he needed any help.
 
During one of their conversations, Sashikumar told Parameswaran that he needed to speak to his family urgently, and gave his wife Bavani Jayapalan's contact number. Parameswaran contacted her and gave her his mobile. He also met her on several occasions even though he was not authorised to contact her.
 
Sometime in mid-2010, Madam Bavani handed the OCBC bank form to Parameswaran and asked him to get her husband to sign on it for closing the bank account of the inmate's cleaning business. Parameswaran agreed and brought the form into Changi Prison to Sashikumar when he reported for work the next day.
 
On another occasion, he made a photocopy of a letter written by a female to Sashikumar and handed it over to Madam Bavani. On both occasions, he did not seek authorisation from his superiors. He told the court he committed the offences out of compassion. Parameswaran, who has resigned and lost his permanent residence, could have been fined up to $3,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months per charge.

32 year old Mohamed Redha Abdul Mutalib was acquitted of murder on Wednesday in a rare case due to 'temporary insanity'.

Redha has stabbed his 55 year old mother 90 times in their home in Eunos 2 years ago.

At the time, he was heavily intoxicated with cough syrup and he had a history of substance abuse.

The court held that while Redha was definitely the one who had committed to murder, he was in such a mental state at the time that he couldn't possibly have known it was wrong.

It was heard that he was acting on the direction of voices in his head.

He will not serve any jail time but he will instead be transferred to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) until the President decides it is ok for him to leave.

A businessman who injured four people near Chong Pang Market when his car crashed into them was fined $7,000 on Wednesday.

Lim Swee Huat, 66, was also banned from driving for two years over the Aug 6, 2012 accident in Yishun, reports The Straits Times.

He pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt to Madam Thangaraj Mahalakshmi, 52, a production operator, and Mr Toh Eng Lay, 55, by a negligent act that had put lives at risk. He also admitted to causing hurt to Mr Ng Yeo Hock, 69, a newspaper vendor, and Madam Seah Peck Hong, 63.

At about 8.20am on Aug 6, Lim was trying to drive his Mercedes-Benz car out of an open space carpark lot at Yishun Avenue 5 near Block 102 when he failed to ensure that the gear was in "drive'', noted Deputy Public Prosecutor Navin Naidu.

Lim stepped on the accelerator when it was actually the "reverse'' gear that was engaged. The car's rear wheels immediately mounted the kerb.

Lim panicked and stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes, which caused the car to reverse onto the walkway, reportedly knocking over stalls and sending red onions and newspapers into the air.

The car swung out of control for about 20 to 30m before coming to a stop. By then, it had injured four people in the vicinity.

Madam Mahalakshmi suffered multiple rib and skull fractures and was warded for about two weeks before she was transferred to a community hospital.

Mr Toh, whose left leg was broken, was warded for three days and given eight months of medical leave.

Mr Ng had abrasions on his arm and heel while his sister Ng Su Kee complained of giddiness. Both were treated as outpatients. They suffered $1,700 in losses due to the damage caused to their newspaper stand.

Madam Seah tripped and fell when she was trying to get out of the way.

"You have caused great panic and alarm to hapless members of the pedestrian public, who understandably feared for their lives as your vehicle careened over the pavement," District Judge Marvin Bay told Lim.

Lim, who has been driving for more than 30 years, had pleaded through his lawyer against the driving ban. But the judge said it was best that his driving skills be re-evaluated.

Lai Wei Khuen, a 37 year old assistant director at the Media Development Authority (MDA) was charged in court today for corruption and forgery. He faces a total of 31 charges.

He stands accused of corruptly obtaining loans worth over $23,000 from MDA through 12 people on 27 occasions.

He had also forged documents by signing them under the name of the MDA director Thomas Lim.

The CPIB has been investing Lai's case and found that the companies who had loaned money to Lai included Veev Interactive, Asia Events and Magazines Integrated.

It is understood that Lai is going to plead guilty and the prosecution will be pursuing 7 of the 31 charges.

Investigations are still ongoing to determine exactly where the money has gone. 

A former relief teacher was yesterday placed on 12 months' supervised probation for using criminal force on a teaching intern, reports The Straits Times. 

Tuition teacher Poh Sim Ying, 27, was told by Community Court Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan not to contact the victim and was allowed to keep only one account on photo-sharing site Instagram.

When the case came up for sentencing last month, the court was told that the victim complained that Poh had made veiled postings about her on Instagram.

Subject to a report by a psychiatrist, Poh has to do 80 hours of community service and attend psychotherapy sessions at the Institute of Mental Health.

Last October, Poh pleaded guilty to two charges of using criminal force on the 25-year-old, who cannot be named due to a gag order.

The court heard that on April 15 last year, the victim had boarded SBS Transit bus service 106. Poh, who was in the bus, approached her and started touching her hair. She also held her hands and caressed her waist.

The victim sought help from the bus captain, who stopped the bus for her to alight, but Poh also got off the bus. She flagged down and entered a taxi, but Poh forced her way in. The cabby told them to leave his vehicle.

When Poh continued to follow her, the victim activated a hand-held alarm but Poh grabbed the device. The victim then walked to a bus stop nearby, where there were other people. But that did not deter Poh, who touched her and tried to kiss her.

The victim called a friend for help. Poh stopped only when the friend arrived in a car. Investigations showed the victim had lodged police reports against Poh for harassing her from September 2012 to April last year.

Poh's lawyer Louis Joseph said his client, a National University of Singapore science graduate, deeply regretted her actions. She was depressed as she had lost her teaching job. Her parents and sister signed a $5,000 bond to ensure her good behaviour.

Poh could have been jailed for up to three months and/or fined up to $500 on each charge.

<pic credit: Straits Times>

Alternative medicine practitioner Koh Nai Hock was charged on Thursday with 14 counts of allegedly sexually penetrating a woman with his finger, reports The Straits Times.
 
The offences were said to have been committed between Nov 1 and Christmas Day in 2010 in rooms at the Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel in Marine Parade and the Ibis Hotel in Bencoolen Street.
 
It is believed that the alleged victim, who is said to be in her late 30s, was being treated by the 62-year-old Koh. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.
 
Koh, who is also known as Dr Bob Koh, does not have a medical degree and also faces one charge of advertising alternative treatment methods for cancer on the Internet. According to court papers, he had between May and July 2008 posted articles on the Internet that promoted his treatment of cancer.
 
 
The advertisements were titled: Alternative Treatment Stopped Cancer Cells from Growing Under 2 Weeks, An Open Letter to Doctors from Dr Bob Koh, and Doctor Bob Koh Updates on his 3 Recent Successes.
 
If convicted of contravening the advertising regulations of the Medicines Act, he could be fined up to $1,000 and jailed for up to a year.
 
Defence counsel Colin Phan told the district court that his client intends to claim trial to the sexual accusations.
 
There will be a pre-trial conference on March 10. Koh is out on bail of $20,000.

A blog is also created to share the stories of all the victims affected by "DR" Bob Koh, below is a short quote from the blog:

i was on holiday in summer 2007 from US, my mom forced me to have some therapy with him, i didn't want to, i dislike it e most, but my mom forced me to have one... Sigh, and this one night, when i was sleeping because i was so tired, all of sudden, it was at 4 am in e early bird, he entered into my room (since i can't hear, so that's why my door shouldn't be locked, because if something happens, i couldn't hear if they call me) , and this beast told e reason he entered was because he wanted to give therapy on my stomach and my breast, but out of sudden, with e lights off, he started to touch my legs, thighs, went up to my stomach and breast. His was also very close to put his hand inside my vagina, and i didn't know that he was using my leg to touch his thing "penis". 
 

You can read all the stories shared by the victims here.

Two men from Sarawak, who went on a violent robbery spree in the Kallang area in 2010, were on Monday (Jan 20) convicted of murder.
 
Micheal Garing, 25, and Tony Imba, 34, were found guilty by the High Court of murdering 41-year-old Shanmuganathan Dillidurai, a construction worker from India, reports The Straits Times. 
 
The case was adjourned to a later date for both sides to make submissions on whether the duo should be given the death penalty or life imprisonment. The prosecution indicated on Monday it would be pushing for the death penalty.
 
Micheal and Tony were among a group of four men who carried out four violent robberies from the late night of May 29 to the early hours of May 30.
 
One alleged accomplice is at large. The other has been sentenced to 33 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to armed robbery with grievous hurt.
 
Apart from Mr Dillidurai, the three other victims - two workers from India and a Singaporean - were seriously injured.

*photo for illustration purposes only

Kwek Chuan Shan, the 35 year old Starhub advertising director who pleaded guilty to engaging in BDSM sex acts with an underage girl has been sentenced today to 12 months jail.

He had met the 15 year old through an online dating site OkCupid, in 2012 and she had told him that she was only 15 years old.

She had approached him through the dating site and they later met at his apartment in Redhill Close on two occasions in November of 2012 where he tied her up and engaged in sexual acts.

He also took explicit photographs of her which later lead to the discovery of their sexual encounters when the photos were shown to a church friend of the father of the underage girl.

The prosecution had argued that the offence was serious given the 20 year age gap between the two.

Despite the fact that the girl was the one to approach Kwek, the position at law is that it is the adult male’s responsibility to exercise restraint.

On the other hand, the judge felt that there was no evidence that Kwek had corrupted the girl and he had not exploited any position of trust.

He was sentenced to 12 months jail.

Related:

Starhub advertising director had sex and carried out BDSM with 15 year old girl

<above pic: the girl involved in the underage prostitution that led the downfall of almost 50 working professionals in Singapore>

A former River Valley High School teacher was jailed for three months on Wednesday after he admitted having paid for sex with an underage prostitute, reports The Straits Times.

Chua Ren Cheng confessed he was a "sinner" as he became the 32nd man to be imprisoned for having commercial sex with the 17-year-old.

The 33-year-old had paid $650 for a 90-minute session with her at the Strand Hotel in Bencoolen Street in December 2010.

He owned up to his crime on Monday and could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.

Chua told the district court he would try to become "a better person", adding: "I'm a normal person. I have human failings. I made a mistake. I'm a sinner." He had spotted the escort's picture on a website, which claimed she was 18 years old.

The site was run by 40-year-old pimp Tang Boon Thiew who was investigated for operating an online vice ring. Tang was jailed for four years and ten months and fined $90,000 in January last year for 20 vice-related charges.

Altogether, 51 men have been charged with having commercial sex with the underage escort and 19 cases are still pending.

Chua's lawyer Mr Amarjit Singh Sidhu had earlier said that his client had been awarded a Public Service Commission scholarship in teaching in 1998 and had been an outstanding teacher since June 2006.

He passed an interview too become the school's vice principal but the promotion never came about and in February 2012 he resigned from his job before being charged with having commercial sex with a minor.

Editor's Note:

How is it fair that 48 people get charged with many of them even thrown in jail while the girl involved has no penalites?

The men had not knowingly sought out an underage prositute and in many of the cases, they had been lied to and told that the girl was old enough. Prostitution is legal in Singapore and the men would have done nothing wrong had the girl really been over 18. 

The men have had their lives destroyed despite many of them thinking that they had done nothing wrong. The girl is not punished in anyway despite her being the one who was knowingly deceiving the men for her own profit.

In other jurisdictions such as Australia, there is a defence in criminial law called mistake of fact where defendants can get away with offences such as this if they can prove that they honestly had a reasonable, yet mistaken belief of a given fact. (In this case that the girl was old enough). As long as they can prove that they had a reaonsable and genuine belief that she was old enough, they would be charged as if she really was old enough. 

In this case, since prositution is legal, if they could prove they were honestly mistaken about her age, they could be acquitted. 

He was on the run for more than 10 years after fatally stabbing a man. The law finally caught up with him last July when the Malaysian police arrested him for immigration offences and he was extradited back to Singapore.

On Monday, the man, Eng Bak Siong, 60, was jailed for seven years for causing grievous hurt to a man at a wet market in Toa Payoh in 2001, reports The Straits Times. 

Originally accused of murder, he had pleaded guilty to the amended charge of causing grievous hurt to odd-job labourer Peng Teck Hoe, 32, with Neo Eng Hwee, Tan Keng Heng and other unknown persons, on Feb 21, 2001.

It all started when Eng's friend, Neo, believed that he had been cheated during a card game, the court heard.

Neo, 58, called Eng to help him confront the cheats. When Eng went to the market with a few other men, Neo pointed out the alleged cheat Peng and another man to him.

They started tussling and Eng thrusted a knife two to three times at Mr Peng, stabbing him in the abdomen. Mr Peng was taken to hospital where he died the same day.

The same day, Eng and Neo fled to Malaysia while Tan did so on July 20 that year.

Neo, an odd-job worker, surrendered himself at Tuas Checkpoint in 2005. The then 51-year-old was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison in 2005 for similarly causing grievous hurt.

Tan, now 69, also an odd-job worker, is still at large.

Eng, a former renovation contractor, has two previous convictions for causing hurt with a dangerous weapon. He was given nine months and four strokes on each charge in 1982.

District Judge Salina Ishak noted several aggravating factors including the fact that Eng was the one who inflicted the fatal wound on a vulnerable part of Mr Peng. Eng had also assaulted the victim in a violent and excessive manner, the judge added.

Eng could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined for the offence.

A 45-year-old cabby, who killed his former girlfriend by dousing her with petrol and setting her alight after she refused to get back together, was on Monday sentenced to 20 years in prison, reports The Straits Times.

Lim Ghim Peow had pleaded guilty on Jan 13 to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. His victim, Ms Mary Yoong Mei Ling, 43, suffered burns on 75 per cent of her body after the attack at her aunt's Sengkang flat in May 2012. She died 14 hours later in hospital. 

Handing down the sentence, Judicial Commissioner Tan Siong Thye said the killing was "heinous" and warranted a long jail term because of the level of pre-meditation involved. He said the public needed to be protected from Lim's quick temperedness and "violent disposition", noting that he had devised the plan in a "cold, conscientious" manner. 

Lim had a rocky relationship with Ms Yoong, who was once jailed in China for human trafficking. The duo, who were both divorced, started a relationship in September 2008. After their relationship turned rocky in 2011 and Lim slapped her after a row, she broke up with him and moved out for good. He persistently begged for a reconciliation but she refused. Lim told her in text messages that he would not leave her alone even if he became a ghost. 

In February 2012, he threatened to set fire to her friend's flat and bought a four-litre tin of petrol. His brother told him not to "act crazy" but he kept the fuel. Lim became increasingly depressed and started taking methamphetamine. Meanwhile, Ms Yoong began a new relationship with plans for marriage and moved to Johor Baru. 

On May 22, 2012, she returned to Singapore to vote in the Hougang by-election and stayed at her aunt's flat in Compassvale Lane. Lim turned up the next day and knelt before her and sobbed while she scolded him. He then resolved to burn her to death and then set fire to himself.

Lim repacked the petrol into plastic bottles and loitered around the flat to wait for Ms Yoong. At 1 am on May 25, Lim placed the bottles of petrol outside the Sengkang flat and waited at the staircase landing. At about 8.30am, when Ms Yoong was leaving, he rushed towards her, holding a bottle of petrol and a lighter. 

She ran back into the flat and shut the gate, but he grabbed her through the grille and poured petrol over her head as she shouted for her cousin, Mr Phua Duan Kai. 

The maximum penalty for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, where the act is done with the intention of causing death or injuries likely to cause death, is life imprisonment or a jail term of up to 20 years, and caning or a fine.

A 31 year old man was sentenced to 7 years jail and 9 strokes of the cane  for raping his cousin 14 years ago.

Then aged 17 and unemployed, the man raped his 8 year old cousin in a staircase landing at a HDB block in 1999.

It was heard that he had exploited a position of trust and had raped the girl on two other occasions that year as well.

The offences went unnoticed until 2011 when the girl finally went to the police about the case when she was 18. She is now 22.

The judge had highlighted that the victim was then very young and the man had abused her trust of him.

It was also heard that he had planned the offences and had a pattern of sexually abusing his cousin.

The man admitted to raping the girl 3 times in 1999 and the judge handed a deterrent sentence of 7 years jail and 9 strokes of the cane

A financial planner who uploaded online two obscene videos of his former girlfriend after their break-up was jailed for 10 weeks on Wednesday.
 
The 25-year-old admitted to transmitting by electronic means video clips which depicted himself having sex with his then-girlfriend, who is 24, and of her performing oral sex on him. The videos were uploaded to pornographic website Xhamster last August.
 
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling told the court that the couple were holidaying in Batam, Indonesia, in June 2012 when she allowed him to record two videos on his mobile phone. A year later, she broke off with him and out of anger, the accused uploaded the two obscene videos online.
 
On Oct 11 last year, the victim's friend informed her about the two videos on Xhamster.
 
The victim recognised the nickname which the accused had used to post them. Each video lasted about three to four minutes and they were circulated online for more than two months, said Ms Chee. The victim asked him to remove them that day but he only did so three days later.
 
Ms Chee had asked for at least three weeks' jail. Among the aggravating factors she cited were that the victim's face could be clearly seen on both videos, and that she was humiliated and suffered irreparable damage to her reputation.
 
The accused said this was the first time he had committed such a crime and was deeply sorry for what he had done. He could have been jailed for up to three months and/or fined.