1 - He buys take Viagra in JB and takes one a few days
later
2 - Does not realise it contains Ice and is arrested at
Customs
3 - Wife is shocked when he calls her and says...
SHE found out that her husband had been taking Viagra only when he
called her from jail.
Mr Lee Voot Seong, 51, had erectile dysfunction since 2003 but had
kept it from his wife.
Mr Lee was also in financial difficulties and could no longer
afford to buy Viagra.
So when he found a box of 'Indian Viagra' pills sold by street
peddlers in Johor Baru in April, he grabbed it.
They cost him RM$20 ($8.50) for four.
Said Mr Lee: 'I saw it and I thought 'Wah, so cheap'. I didn't
think about the side effects or if it's real. I just wanted to save
some money.'
Unfortunately for him, not only were they fake, they contained the
methamphetamine Ice, a controlled drug here.
A few days later, he took a pill before heading to Johor to make
some deliveries. He was arrested at the Causeway on his return
trip.
His wife, Madam Hazeline Lau, 50, described how she felt when the
call came from Jurong Police Station, asking her to post bail for
him that night.
'I didn't know how to react at first. I was angry because he kept
the truth from me. I asked him 'Why did you want to take that
medicine?'
'But on the other hand, it was more important that I bail him out
first,' Madam Lau said in Mandarin.
Luckily for Mr Lee, his ordeal ended yesterday when he was
acquitted of consuming the drug.
Their children, an 18-year-old and 16-year-old twins, had been kept
in the dark about the whole affair.
Said Madam Lau: 'We didn't want anyone to know, especially the
children. We didn't want them to worry.'
GUY'S PROBLEM
Mr Lee said he kept his medical condition from his wife because 'it
was a guy's problem' and he didn't want her to worry.
The couple currently run a small home spa business.
Mr Lee said the family is in dire financial difficulties. He and
his wife are both bankrupt.
He applied to the Law Society and was granted free legal aid to
defend him against the charge.
But life was not always like this, said Mr Lee, a Malaysian who has
been living here for more than 30 years and is a Singapore
Permanent Resident.
He and his wife owned a profitable construction company for more
than 20 years. It closed down two years ago due to financial
problems.
The family used to live the high life when the company was at its
peak in the late 1990s.
The company had more than 200 employees, some of whom were paid
six-month bonuses and lavished with gifts of Rolex watches and
company cars.
Back then, the family owned a number of properties, including two
condo apartments, a semi-detached house, a three-storey terrace
house and an HDB flat.
The children were chauffeured in new Mercedes and Jaguar
cars.
Said Mr Lee in Mandarin: 'We were living like millionaires. My
biggest indulgence was cars. I like Mercedes cars and used to
change cars every four to five years.'
Back then, their combined monthly income was over $20,000.
BANKRUPT
Then the company suffered a severe downturn and the couple were
declared bankrupt.
Their houses and cars were seized by the bank and the family
downgraded to a four-room HDB flat in Woodlands, in which they
still live.
To make matters worse, one of his twin sons needed a bone marrow
transplant last year.
The medical bills came to about $100,000 and the family still
owes
KK Hospital about $40,000 for the transplant.
The family's spa business brings in a few thousand dollars a month
now, depending on, and they get by.
But Mr Lee has learnt one lesson - never buy medicine from the
streets.
He said: 'I think I've gone through enough. I wouldn't buy from the
street peddlers even if you point a gun at me. I think I'll steer
clear of Viagra from now.'