A family of three have been charged in court for stealing $230 worth of Chinese New Year delicacies such as abalone and birds' nest.

Chan Wee Kuan, 53, Tay Meng Koon, 52 and their daughter Chan Yu Huan, 23, had allegedly stolen the delicacies from Giant at Jurong East's IMM Shopping Centre.

The offences occurred around 10pm on January 7th.

The three were unrepresented in court yesterday when their charges were read to them. Bail has been set at $5000 each with their case to be heard again on the 13th of February.

The maximum penalty for theft is a jail term not exceeding 7 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

*photo for illustrative purposes only

A Myanmar national became the seventh man to be jailed for having commercial sex with a 16-year-old girl, reports The Straits Times. 
 
Lu Maw, 34, who is a permanent resident, was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail on Monday.
 
He was an engineer at the time he paid $220 for the sexual services of the minor at a flat in Jurong East Street 24 on March 1 last year.
 
The minor, who is now 17, was procured by pimp Malcolm Graham Head as a prostitute in October 2012 after tricking her into believing that she was going to work as a social escort and earn high pay quickly.
 
Head and his girlfriend, Veronica Patricia Rio, 19, who helped him in the vice business, knew that the minor had just turned 16 years old and was still schooling.
 
The girl subsequently realised that she was to provide sexual services of all kinds to the clients secured by either Head or Rio.
 
At times when the minor did not want to serve clients, she would be fed Ice, the common name for methamphetamine, to keep her awake, or she would be assaulted by the couple.
 
Lu Maw chanced upon Head's advertisement on the website and booked the minor's services on Feb 28 last year.
 
When told that her services would cost $280 for two hours, he managed to negotiate for a price of $220.
 
The next day, the minor proceeded to the void deck of the block where he lived and met him. They went to the flat and had sex. He did not try to verify her age.
 
His lawyer said he had lost his job and his wife had left him with their only child.
 
The accused could have been jailed for up to seven years and/or fined for commercial sex with a person under 18 years old.

Interestingly, it is unknown how the "Foreign Talent" can still live in Singapore for so long without having his visa revoked despite being jobless for so long.

A waiter who targeted teenage girls to rob and molest, as he believed they were "easy" victims, was sentenced to six years in jail and 20 strokes of the cane yesterday, reports The Straits Times.

Kang Boon Khoon, 33, chose his Chua Chu Kang neighbourhood to commit his offences so that he could flee to his home easily.

But his crime spree ended after he was caught loitering in the neighbourhood at 6am on Aug 24 last year with a 15cm knife.

He pleaded guilty to robbing and molesting a 19-year-old on Aug 11 last year and to robbing a 16-year-old on Aug 21.

The charges for loitering with the intention of committing the offences while being armed with a knife were taken into consideration by the judge in sentencing.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Raja Mohan said that investigations revealed that Kang would follow his victims into lifts and commit the offences as they were about to step out.

Pleading for a lenient sentence, defence counsel Cheng Kim Kuan said that the total value of items stolen by his client was only $520 and that this included cash and a mobile phone.

The lawyer also said that Kang was in a "deeply unhappy marriage", with his wife holding the purse strings tightly.

Before passing sentence, District Judge Low Wee Ping said that it was difficult for the court to understand why Kang had committed such serious offences because his criminal records did not show him as "a man of violence".

His previous convictions were for theft and sex with a minor in 2009.

The maximum penalty for robbing the 19-year-old student is a 14-year jail term and 24 strokes of the cane.

*photo for illustrative purposes only

A 42-year-old primary school teacher pleaded guilty on Wednesday to committing indecent acts on a 13-year-old student by kissing him on the lips and giving him love bites on his neck and shoulder.

The teacher, who was seven years older than the boy's mother, had gone out on dates with him. She cannot be named as it could lead to the identification of the victim, who is a minor, reports The Straits Times. 

A district court heard that in early 2012, the boy, who was then in primary six, got to know the teacher as her son was in the same football team as he was. She was also in charge of the Malay dance course that was attended by his two sisters.

Soon, the victim and his siblings became friendly with the teacher and her four children. The teacher and the victim would also chat on the Facebook social networking website.

In late October 2012, the victim left home in his school uniform but changed his clothes before meeting her for breakfast at the McDonald's outlet at Nanyang Technological University. They then took a bus to a nearby park. There, she gave him a love bite on his shoulder. She also kissed him on his lips and put her tongue in his mouth. They then watched a movie at Clementi Mall before parting ways.

On Oct 31, they were at Botanical Gardens, where she kissed him on the lips again. The next day, they went to Sentosa where she kissed him and also gave him a love bite on his shoulder. On Nov 13, they went to the Botanical Gardens again, where they kissed and she gave him a love bite on his neck.

His 35-year-old mother spotted the love bite the next day. When confronted by his parents, he spilled the beans.

The parents informed the school and got their son to lodge a police report. The teacher was suspended, and charged in court. Asking for an appropriate jail sentence, Deputy Public Prosecutor Santhra Aiyyasamy said that the teacher had built a relationship with the student and had taken advantage of him when he played truant.

"Sexual exploitation of such young victims is completely unacceptable," she added.

Defence counsel Peter Fernando asked the court to consider placing the teacher on probation instead, saying that his client had been suffering from a major depressive disorder when she committed the offences and that she is now coping well with treatment.

Her husband and other family members were in court and were seen trying to console her after the hearing.

She will be sentenced on Feb 19.

The maximum penalty for such offences is a $10,000 fine and a five-year jail term.

When Neo Wei Siong, 35, quarrelled with his father on Oct 25, 2011 and could not go home, he stayed over at a friend's house.
 
Two days later, he woke up in the Boon Lay flat to find himself alone with his friend's 15-year-old daughter, and later raped the minor, reports The Straits Times.
 
Yesterday, the warehouse packer was sentenced to seven years in jail and 10 strokes of the cane for the offence.
 
When the judge granted a gag order on the identity of the victim, Neo, who did not have a lawyer, asked for his name not to be published in the newspapers.
 
He said through the Mandarin interpreter that if people know of his rape conviction, he would not get a job upon his release from prison.
 
Rebuking Neo, District Judge Lee Poh Choo said he had committed a heinous crime against the young girl.
 
"Don't you think how your actions affected the girl's future?" the judge asked.
 
He answered meekly: "Yes, I realise now."
 
Added Judge Lee: "The victim is innocent; she must be protected but not you."
 
Earlier, the court heard that Neo and the girl's mother were friends since their teenage days. He was a frequent visitor and the girl and her brothers would call him "uncle".
 
On the day of the rape, he had pulled her into his room at about 10am. She refused to have sex with him but relented after he promised to return her mobile phone if she slept with him. He got it from her grandmother who confiscated it a month earlier over an infringement.
 
When she refused his advances, he still forced himself on her. Subsequently, she confided in her godmother, who took her to the police to lodge a report.
 
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao told the court that the victim now suffers from insomnia and nightmares about the incident and has become fearful of men.
 
Neo could have been jailed for up to 20 years and caned up to 24 times. 

It was the biggest seizure of illegal wildlife from a home in 11 years and naturally the offender received one of the biggest fines ever meted out for such offences. Ong Ming Shiang, 33, was fined a total of $41,000 on Thursday after pleading guilty to contravening the Endangered Species (Import & Export) Act and the Wild Animals and Birds Act.
 
Acting on a tip-off, officers of the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority inspected a Housing Board flat in Toa Payoh North on June 3 last year. Among the 32 wildlife and endangered animals seized were three rare ball pythons, two Indian star tortoises, a slow loris, three black-tailed prairie dogs, two sailfin dragons and five ornate horned frogs.
 
AVA records revealed that the animals were not indigenous and had been brought in without permits. Investigations then revealed some of the animals were given to Ong while others were bought by him. However, no further details were told to the court.
 
AVA's prosecuting officer, Mr Yap Teck Chuan, also said that there was no evidence linking Ong to any wildlife smuggling syndicate but asked for a heavy fine as there was evidence to show that the animals were for sale.
 
The maximum punishment for contravening the Endangered Species Act is a $500,000 fine and a two year jail term while the maximum penalty under the Wild Animals and Birds Act is a $1,000 fine.
 
Pleading for leniency, defence counsel Alywin Goh said that a heavy fine would cripple Ong financially as his client had also to support a Thai wife and two sons, aged two years and one-year old.
 
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim allowed Ong, who works in his father's provision shop, to pay $16,000 first and the remaining $25,000 two months thereafter.
 
This is the biggest haul of wildlife since 2002, when a man was fined $25,000 and jailed for three months for owning 47 illegal wild animals as pets. 

Two Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) specialists were each jailed for four months on Thursday for accepting bribes from their then colleague to facilitate the granting of social visit passes for foreigners to enter Singapore.
 
Mohamed Nazrul Noor Mohamed, 34, and Lukmanulhakim Samsun, 29, were also ordered to pay a penalty of $100 and $50 respectively, reports The Straits Times. 
 
Nazrul pleaded guilty to accepting $100 from his former colleague Mohammed Mustaffa Mohabat Ali in return for granting 30-day social visit passes to two Filipinas at Tuas Checkpoint on May 8, 2011.
 
Lukmanulhakim admitted to a similar charge of accepting $50 from Mustaffa on Jan 10 that year to grant a visit pass to a Filipina.
 
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ilona Tan said the duties of the duo included assessing whether foreigners met entry requirements before granting visit passes to them for their stay in Singapore.
 
Investigation showed that in September or October 2010, Mustaffa hatched a scheme to earn money by helping foreigners to get fresh social visit passes by performing U-turns. The "U-turn" refers to the practice of foreigners here going to Malaysia for a short period and then re-entering Singapore so their social visit passes are extended.
 
Nazrul and Lukmanulhakim were among four specialists whom Mustaffa had recruited to help him in the scheme.
 
To facilitate the foreigners in doing a U-turn, Mustaffa engaged the help of one Philibert Tng Hai Swee and two others to ferry the foreigners on a round trip between Singapore and Malaysia for a fee. Mustaffa would pay Tng $50 a trip for ferrying the foreigners.
 
Mr Tng would refer foreigners who wanted to obtain fresh visit passes and extend their stay to Mustaffa who charged them $250 to $450 per extension.
 
Ms Tan said generally, Mustaffa tried to arrange for the foreigners to complete the U-turns on the days when he was on duty at Tuas.
 
When he was not on duty, he would direct the accused or the other two ICA specialists to grant fresh social visit passes to the foreigners while he acted as the liaison point between the drivers and the relevant ICA specialist.
 
The accused granted the foreigners sent by Mustaffa new visit passes without doing the requisite checks. The accused, Mustaffa and the other two ICA specialists also flouted rules when they used their mobile phones to communicate with each other whenever they executed their scheme.
 
Last December, Mustaffa pleaded guilty to 12 corruption charges and was jailed a total of 21 months. The 29-year-old, who had 23 other similar charges considered, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $8,050.
 
The cases against the other two ICA specialists are pending. Mr Tng passed away in October 2011 before investigations into his role could be completed.
 
The maximum penalty for corruption is five years' jail and a $100,000 fine.

Container truck driver Lim Boon Cheow, 57, was unhappy that his wife was "hanging out" with a male colleague living nearby and decided to knock some sense into the other man - with a sledge hammer.

He ended up fracturing the wrist of Mr Quek Then Choon and causing $7,800 worth of damage to his car, reports the Straits Times.

On Friday, Lim pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt to the 53-year-old insurance agent and was jailed for nine months. The charge of committing mischief by damaging the car was taken into consideration by District Judge Salina Ishak when passing sentence.

Reading out the facts of the case, Deputy Public Prosecutor Rachel Ng said that on Oct 4, 2012, Lim drank 18 bottles of beer with a friend at a coffee shop earlier that evening.

He was at home in Jurong West when his wife returned and they argued. She denied cheating on him and he stormed out of the house.

He got the sledge hammer from his truck and went to confront Mr Quek. As the insurance agent was walking home at 11.30pm, Lim pounced and swung the hammer at him. Mr Quek warded off the blow and fractured his left wrist.

The intoxicated Lim fell to the ground and the victim ran off. Lim then smashed the front and rear windscreens and two passenger door windows as well as a headlight and the brake lights of Mr Quek's car.

By then, Mr Quek had called the police. They arrived soon after and arrested Lim and seized the sledge hammer which weighed 3.42kg and was 65cm long.

Defence counsel Vijay Kumar argued that the fracture could not be very serious as Mr Quek had declined treatment and was only prescribed painkillers and awarded three days of medical leave.

The lawyer also told the court that he had requested for the X-rays of the injured wrist but was informed that these were not available.

For causing grievous hurt with the sledge hammer, Lim could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.

A local pub owner was fined $15,000 on Thursday for his role in a plot to scam money from PRC foreign workers.

He had worked with an unlicensed employment agent to scam agent fees from 9 PRC workers who he had hired to work at his pub.

Vijaya Ramasamy employed the women from China and applied for their work passes to work as performers at his pub in Circular Road.

However, he never intended for them to actually work there as after their work passes were approved, he would break off contact with them, forcing them to have to work illegally at other locations in order to pay back their agent fees.

Meanwhile, the unlicensed employment agent, Lim Bee Teck, would charge the women exorbitant agency fees, with some having to pay up to $7000.  On top of this, Lim would collect $600 every month from the women for up to 6 months claiming that they are agency fees.

The total money collected was split between the pub owner and the unlicensed agent.

The PRC women who came expecting to be able to work in Vijaya's pub were instead forced to work illegally elsewhere to pay back the high agent fees thus also breaking the conditions of their work passes. They have now all been deported.

The law states that the maximum an agent can charge for agency fees is 1 month's salary for each year of the employment contract, which is capped at 2 years.

So unless the women were supposed to earn over $3,500 a month, Lim Bee Teck was overcharging them. On top of this, he was unlicensed.

Lim Bee Teck was fined $40,000 for his part in the scam.

A bank executive was jailed for six months on Monday for using a pair of scissors to stab his girlfriend who had decided to call off their relationship.

Tan Zu Yi, 22, pleaded guilty to causing hurt to Ms Yaw Boon Xing, 22, by repeatedly stabbing her at a multi-purpose hall near Block 140, Pasir Ris Street 11 on Oct 26 last year, reports The Straits Times.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tang Shangjun said Tan and the victim, both Malaysians, had been in a relationship for about three years and eight months.

When Ms Yaw moved to Singapore after she found a job in a local bank, Tan would periodically travel here to meet her.

On Oct 22 last year, she decided to end their relationship as she felt that they were incompatible. Tan tried repeatedly to contact her, seeking to work on their relationship, but the victim refused.

Four days later, he decided to drive into Singapore to meet her, bringing along a scrapbook, containing photographs of him and the victim together in happier times. He had also brought along some medicine for her and a pair of scissors that he planned to use to cut more photographs that would be pasted onto the scrapbook.

He tried to contact her and waited at the void deck for her. She finally answered his call at about 9.30pm and agreed to meet him at the multi-purpose hall.

When they met, he hugged her and told her not to leave him. He then gave her the scrapbook that he had made for her. She insisted on ending their relationship and said that it was impossible for them to reconcile. She then proceeded to tear the scrapbook.

At this, Mr Tang said, Tan took out the pair of scissors from his back pocket and started stabbing the victim on her back. He continued stabbing her repeatedly on her back, arms, shoulders, head, buttocks and right thumb despite her screams for help.

HSBC Holdings Plc was sued by Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim’s ex-wife, who claimed she suffered losses because of the bank’s negligence.

Teo Geok Fong, who started investing with private banks after her divorce settlement in 2002, claims she was misled into believing certain products were suitable for her risk profile, according to her lawsuit filed against HSBC’s Singapore unit. The London-based bank has denied wrongdoing.

HSBC “was always eager, motivated by their own commercial interests and/or financial benefits” to persuade her to buy products including accumulators, decumulators and equity-linked notes, according to Teo’s complaint filed in the Singapore High Court. The homemaker with high-school education trusted her banker’s advice, she said in the complaint.

“Our client is pursuing this action rigorously in the courts and expects a favorable outcome,” Teo’s lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam said in an e-mail today.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-11/hsbc-sued-by-singapore-billiona...

Mr Yeo Chang Yong, a trainee teacher at a secondary school admitted to sexually abusing two of his ex-students.

He committed the offences in late 2010 when he was 26. At the time, he had already left working at the school.

He had sex with one victim, then aged 15, on 6 different occasions.

 Yeo also sexually abused another girl, then 14, by groping her breasts.

The prosecution said that Yeo had exploited his position of trust and destroyed the "feeling of safety" that he was supposed to provide for his students.

What is curious though, is the fact that the name of the accused has been published when in other situations, especially where the accused is female, the name of the offender is often censored.

The excuse given is that the offence involves a minor and the publishing of the accused's name may lead to identification of the minor involved.

Why does there appear to be a double standard when males are involved instead of females?

Odd job worker Wang Wenfeng was facing the death penalty for fatally stabbing a taxi driver nearly five years ago. 

Instead, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and given the maximum 24 strokes of the cane in November last year, reports The Straits Times. 

In judgement grounds released yesterday, the High Court made clear in this rare case that it would impose the death penalty if prosecutors could show a life sentence would not be enough as a deterrent instead. 

Justice Lee Seiu Kin, explaining why he decided not to hang Wang, said "the only evidence" prosecutors had produced in asking for the death penalty to deter others was this "single incident of murder in the past five years".

Wang, 35, had killed the taxi driver during a struggle in the course of a botched robbery.

He was originally handed the mandatory death sentence for murder but was re-sentenced following changes in the law effected last year that allowed judges to impose either the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain categories of murder.

Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty as a deterrent, arguing the offence was against a public transport worker and producing data on violence against cabbies in the past five years.

Justice Lee agreed there had been a number of cases of taxi drivers being seriously hurt. "But there is no upward trend nor are the numbers high - the range of such offences varies from two a year to seven a year in the last five years."

The judge said public transport workers spanned a wide range, from those who operated buses or trains with many passengers to taxis, which carried far fewer.

Said the judge: "The degree of punishment imposed could correspond to the degree of danger posed to the public." He accepted that taxi drivers are especially vulnerable because they work alone and can be stranded in remote locations.

"However, it is one thing to impose a higher fine or period of imprisonment for an offence against a taxi driver to deter like-minded from carrying out offences against taxi drivers.

"It is quite another to say that it is necessary and appropriate to impose a sentence of death where life imprisonment is otherwise called for."

Justice Lee said deterrence was not a major factor in this case and the relevant "parameters" were the circumstances of the offence and that the victim belonged to a particularly vulnerable group.

The judge also took issue with prosecutors for suggesting there was a high degree of premeditation and planning on Wang's part - "without stating this was in relation to the offence of robbery and not the murder".

That "puzzling" submission "only had the unfortunate effect of causing the media reports of the case to be misreported", said Justice Lee.

Wang was armed with a knife and planning to rob when he got into the taxi driven by victim Yuen Swee Hong, 58, in the wee hours of April 11, 2009.

The Chinese national was desperate for money and asked to be driven to a lonely spot in Sembawang.

Once there, he demanded cash and a struggle ensued which led to the cabby's death.

Wang needed the money for an airline ticket and was nabbed two days later at People's Park Complex where he went to collect the ticket.

Prosecutors are appealing against the decision.

A 24-year-old man was jailed for seven months on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the offence of having oral sex with an underage girl, reports The Straits Times.
 
Muhammad Hairuniezam Marwi, who was then 22 when he committed the offence on July 9, 2012, saw a friend of his having sex with the 15-year-old girl behind the walls at a skate park beside *Scape along Somerset Road and asked if he can join in and get an oral sex from the girl as well, a district court heard on Tuesday.
 
Hairuniezam, who is a dance instructor, could have been jailed for up to 10 years and/or fined for the offence.
 
Deputy Public Prosecutor Elizabeth Chua told the court that the girl joined a group of people including Hairuniezam and his friend, Ryan Nicholas Shah, 27, at the skate park that evening. The group started drinking an alcoholic cocktail. The victim drank several glasses and began to feel intoxicated.
 
At about 11pm, Shah and the girl went behind one of the walls at the park to urinate.
 
After some time, Hairuniezam went to check on them as they had not returned. He found the pair having sex behind one of the walls. He approached the victim and asked her to perform oral sex on him and she did.
 
At about midnight, the two men sent the victim home in a taxi.
 
The victim's mother was worried when she saw them. She later found the girl lying on the ground at the front door of the house. The victim then told her mother that she had had sex with the men. Her parents called the police.
 
The victim's blood and urine samples were analysed and found to contain a high level of ethanol.
 
Shah, who has been charged with having sex with the girl, will return to court on Feb 24 for his case to be mentioned.

Goh Choon Hee, 50, was drink-driving when his Honda Civic car slammed into a taxi at the junction of Upper Serangoon Road and Hougang Avenue 2 on June 20 last year.
 
Sergeant Samuel Anandaraj Anthonyraj of the Singapore Civil Defence Force happened to be at the scene of the accident, which occurred at 10pm, and came to render assistance. Realising that police would be arriving soon, Goh tried to bribe the fire-fighter to let him settle the matter with the cabby privately. He was turned down and on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to offering $1,000 to induce Sgt Samuel, 28, not to report him for a traffic offence, reports The Straits Times.
 
Goh, the sole proprietor of Home Maintenance Service - a firm in the business of apartment rental - will be sentenced on Wednesday. The company director is out on bail of $10,000.
 
Asking for a jail term of at least three months, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jiang Ke-Yue said that Goh had even "lobbied" for cabby Loy Chee Kah, 60, to participate in the cover-up of the accident.
 
A district court heard that Sgt Samuel, who was on duty and riding a motorcycle back to the fire station when he saw the accident, contacted the SCDF operations room to request for police backup. As he was attending to the taxi driver, he saw that Goh was about to drive away. Sgt Samuel signalled for him to stop and Goh wound down the window and pleaded with the fire-fighter to let him leave immediately.
 
Sgt Samuel instead got Goh to step out of the car on suspicion of drink driving. Goh walked around unsteadily while complaining that he could not afford to have his driving licence revoked because he needed to drive around to collect rentals.
 
Goh then retrieved his wallet from the car and showed Sgt Samuel a $1,000 note. He also made hand signals to indicate that the fire-fighter should let him leave immediately. When this request was declined, Goh tried to offer Mr Loy $1,000 for the damage to his taxi. He also told the cabby that he intended to offer $2,000 to Sgt Samuel to allow Goh and the taxi driver to settle the matter privately.
 
Police then arrived and a breathalyser test showed Goh had 73 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, more than double the legal limit. Goh also tried to get rid of the $1,000 note by dropping it in the patrol car. However, this was recovered by police officers. 
 
Goh, who is represented by Mr A. Rajandran, could be fined up to $100,000 and jailed for up to five years.
 
He had been fined $5,000 and disqualified from driving for five years for drink-driving, and fined $800 for inconsiderate driving on Dec 12 last year.

Was your son in Singapore to undergo full-time training or part-time training? This was the question posed to Madam Zhang Ping, 54, whose son, China-born athlete Luan Wei, is suing the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) for breaching promises made in a 1999 agreement. This question took up more than a third of Madam Zhang's cross-examination by SAA's lawyer, Senior Counsel Giam Chin Toon, yesterday.

One of the alleged promises was that the SAA would provide Mr Luan with English tuition and arrange for him to attend school in Singapore,or train and attend school in China.

It was also agreed he would be provided education up to university level, he and his mother claim. The SAA denies the promises were made and that there was any breach of contract. Mr Luan, 27, who became a Singapore permanent resident in 2003, claims the SAA did not fulfil its promises made at a meeting between his parents and SAA officials in Shanghai in May 1999. He is claiming damages for loss of opportunities that he suffered in his education and athletic career. The shot putter, then 16, was one of several Chinese athletes handpicked by the SAA to come to Singapore under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. Mr Luan was then studying and training at a sports school in Shanghai and coached by a former Olympic silver medallist.

He and his mother claim he came to Singapore because of the alleged promises. He arrived in Singapore in July 1999.

Four years later, Mr Luan was dropped from the scheme by the SAA after failing to meet targets set by the association. In June 2005, he started legal action against the association. Madam Zhang had told the court on Tuesday that her son was supposed to train and study in Singapore in line with the agreement. But the SAA's position is that Mr Luan was invited to come to Singapore for full-time training as it was seeking candidates prepared to become professional full-time athletes. Yesterday, Mr Giam questioned Madam Zhang about court documents dating back to September 2005 in which her lawyers had stated that Mr Luan's training in Singapore was full-time. He told the interpreter who was translating the English document into Mandarin for Madam Zhang: "Explain to her that we asked her lawyers to clarify whether the training was part-time or full-time.

"Your lawyer said full-time. So your lawyer was wrong or you were wrong?" Madam Zhang remained silent. "One of you must be wrong," Mr Giam said. Pressed for a reply, she said she could have made a "verbal mistake" and that "it could have been an error that occurred" during "our exchanges because of the language." Madam Zhang had earlier said that she could barely understand English. Mr Giam pointed out that her lawyers had also mentioned in the same reply that Mr Luan trained six days a week and rested on Sundays. He asked: "In other words, full-time training. Agree or disagree?" She agreed. Mr Giam asked: "So your evidence yesterday and today that it was not full-time training is wrong?" No, what I said was not wrong, she replied. Sounding exasperated, Mr Giam told her to decide whether or not it was full-time training. She said that in a discussion with SAA officials on 15 Apr 1999, they had promised schooling and training for her son. "This was a prerequisite," she said. It was the SAA that suggested that Mr Luan "study and train at the same time".

Mr Giam put to Madam Zhang that "it could not be that he came here to train and study at the same time because he was a full time athlete." She agreed, but added that full-time training was not part of the agreement. But when Mr Luan arrived in Singapore, the SAA put him through full-time training. Mr Giam then said: "I put it to you that your evidence today is inconsistent with your stand taken in 2005 because it's full-time training, because the agreement was full-time training." She disagreed. The trial continues today.

An administrative assistant was jailed for 12 weeks on Wednesday for assaulting a doctor who did not give her younger sister a medical certificate (MC).

Nurhayati Shedek, 23, pleaded guilty to slapping the hand of Dr Yeo Chye Luan, 64, grabbing her neck from behind as well as pushing her head down towards a table, reports The Straits Times.

The attack took place in a consultation room at Tampines Polyclinic at Tampines Street 41 on Aug 27 last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap said Nurhayati and her sister Nur Hazirah, 16, had both gone to the polyclinic for medical consultations.

Nurhayati was attended to by another doctor who gave her a day's MC, but her sister, a student, was not given any by Dr Yeo, who issued her a time chit instead.

When Nurhayati noticed that there was no date on her sister's time chit, she confronted Dr Yeo in her consultation room to find out why. She raised her voice and demanded to know why her sister was not given an MC despite the long wait.

Ms Yap said Nurhayati then threw down the time chit and banged on the table, insisting that Dr Yeo write an MC for her sister. Dr Yeo refused.

When Dr Yeo wanted to pick up her telephone to call for help, Nurhayati stopped her by slapping her on the hand and grabbing her neck from the back. She also pushed the doctor's head forward towards the table.

Dr Yeo was too shocked to shout for help. She managed to break free and rushed out of the room to the patients' waiting area.

But Nurhayati followed her into the area and grabbed Dr Yeo's neck from the back and pushed her head down. This charge was considered during her sentencing.

Dr Yeo escaped by walking quickly towards the main staircase and told a health attendant to inform the registration counter to call the police.

The doctor was treated at Singapore General Hospital the next day for abrasions on her hand as well as tenderness and discomfort on her neck. She was given four days' medical leave.

It is not known what ailments Nurhayati and her sister had sought medical help for. Nurhayati could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined up to $5,000 for causing hurt.

*photo for illustrative purposes only

A SERIAL rapist accused of spiking his victims' drinks told the High Court on Thursday he believed the women were willing to have sex with him even before they met up at nightspots.

Azuar Ahamad, 44, got to know the four women through a social networking application called Speed Date, using several personae such as "Denny" or "Shawn". He said he chatted online with them about sexual issues and was under the impression the women would have sex with him if they met up in person.

He testified that after he met them, at least two of the women behaved in such a way - kissing and hugging him - that made him believe they were willing to have sex with him.

However, Azuar admitted he had taken the opportunity to assault the women while they were unconscious.

He pleaded guilty in 2012 to raping three of the women and sexually assaulting the fourth in 2009.

Prosecutors have accused him of using the sleeping pill Dormicum to spike the victims' drinks and are seeking at least 45 years' jail on the argument that he is a danger to society.

He has maintained he did not slip sleeping pills into their drinks, insisting that the women had drunk themselves into a stupor.

The issue of whether he had drugged them is a key issue in the current hearing on sentencing.

On Thursday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Andrew Tan pointed out that Azuar was in the habit of lying to get what he wanted. He had lied to the victims about his educational qualifications and occupation in order to impress them and had lied to doctors about his family background and occupation in order to obtain sleeping pills.

The DPP put it to Azuar that in the same vein, he was lying about not spiking the women's drinks in order to get a lighter sentence.

Azuar admitted that he was a habitual liar but disagreed that he was lying about the sleeping pills.

The hearing has been adjourned to a later date for closing submissions.

A second Indian national, who has worked in Singapore less than a year, is to plead guilty under charges for rioting in Singapore last December.

Singaravelu Vignesh, a 23-year-old construction worker, was originally charged with rioting in the Little India precinct in Singapore and faced jail term of up to seven years and canning.

Mr. Vignesh’s lawyer M. Lukshumayeh said his client would plead guilty under an amended charge of continuing in an assembly that was ordered to disperse after the December 8, 2013 riots.

“My client has accepted the prosecution’s offer and will plead guilty on Monday,” The Straits Timesquoted on Friday Mr. Lukshumayeh as saying after a pre-trial conference held on Thursday.

The amended charge under Section 151 of the Penal Code could mean a penalty of up to two years in jail and/or a fine.

Mr. Vignesh was arrested on the night of the riots and has been on remand since.

He was arrested with his friend Chinnappa Vijayaragunatha Poopathi, 32, demanding drinks from a canteen in Little India, a precinct of Indian origin businesses, eateries and pubs, on the night of the riot.

Poopathi had pleaded guilty last Friday and was jailed for 15 weeks on Monday under Section 151, a charge amended from the serious rioting case.

Both Poopathi and Mr. Vignesh had refused to leave the canteen when ordered by police to disperse following the riots.

The Singapore daily cited court documents as reporting that both men “shouted at the canteen employees, demanding they reopen the shops and sell alcohol to them, further heightening tensions”.

A pre-trial conference has been set for the cases of 23 other Indian nationals arrested relating to rioting in the Little India, a precinct of Indian origin businesses, eateries and pubs.

Some 400 migrant workers from South Asia rioted on December 8 after an Indian national died in a bus accident at a bus pickup point in the area, leaving 43 officers injured and 24 vehicles damaged.

*Article first appeared on http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/second-indian-to-plead-...

A manager of an unregistered Indian international school who had collected over $80,000 in school fees from 12 students was fined $18,000 in court on Monday, in the first such case in Singapore.

The sanction against Natarajan Panneer Selvam came after Kalaibharathi International School (KIS) had earlier been told by the Council for Private Education (CPE), which regulates the private education industry here, that it was not allowed to advertise, collect fees, or conduct classes before its application for registration was approved.

Its application was rejected in December 2012 after it failed to meet the CPE's mandatory registration requirements. Private education institutions have to meet requirements such as getting approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to use their premises to operate as a commercial school and a fire safety clearance from the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

The manager then did not refund its students the full course fees that they had paid between February and June 2012, despite the CPE instructing KIS, which was located in Jurong East Ave 1, to do so.

The council said in a statement that the manager was fined after pleading guilty to two charges of knowingly assisting an unregistered private education institution, and for not complying with the CPE's directions. A spokesman for the CPE told The Straits Times that it was the first time that a person was charged under the Private Education Act for such offences.

Another manager of KIS, Ms Panneerselvam Susanna, was issued a stern warning for playing a part in Selvam's offences.

The council advised students interested in enrolling in a private education institution to first check the CPE website at www.cpe.gov.sg for a list of registered providers. They can also contact CPE at 6592 2108 or cpe_contact@cpe.gov.sg for clarification.