The Straits Times. Dec 4, 2009
By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent
A CHINESE national was jailed for nine weeks on Friday for
throwing two lighted match sticks at her lover’s fish farm and
caused damage of more than $200,000.
Cleaner Liu
Gui Ling, 37, a Singapore permanent resident,
admitted to mischief at the fish farm at sea off Pasir Ris at about
2am on April 9.
A Community Court heard that the night before, Liu and her
lover, Mr Goh Khoon Heng, 53, the fish farm owner, had a dispute
over some financial and personal matters.
At about 2am, she lighted two match sticks and threw them into
the trash bags at the fish farm. Some structures of the fish farm
caught fire, causing damage of between $220,000 and $230,000.
Liu, who surrendered herself to the police, told Judge Soh Tze
Bian in between sobs that she had a two-year-old child with her
lover, and that they planned to wed next year.
She could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined.
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Karen Wong
Fri, Nov 02, 2007
The New Paper
SHE was his regular masseuse.
But when he stopped going to her, the China national began
stalking him.
He claimed that she phoned him several times and showed up at
his office and his home a few times. She even went to his office
and refused to budge when she was asked to leave.
Another time, she stuck notices about her grievances against him
on his car.
It got so bad that businessman Howe Jee Tian, 55, who is married
with a 19-year-old daughter, took out a private summons against
her.
Song Jing, who
is now a Singapore PR, was found guilty of criminal
trespass, mischief and using criminal force after a three-day
hearing. The district court fined her a total of $1,000.
The court heard that Mr Howe, managing director of a building
contracting company, got to know Song in 2003 at a massage parlour
in Holland Road.
Song was his
masseuse whenever he visited that parlour.
She later moved to another massage parlour at International
Plaza in Tanjong Pagar and he continued to be her customer.
When he stopped going to her sometime last year, Song began to
pester and stalk him.
In Singapore, there is no law against stalking and Song was
taken to court for the offences she committed in the course of
it.
The court heard that on 26 Aug last year , Song went to Mr
Howe’s office at Gul Lane, burst into his room unannounced and
interrupted a meeting he was having with his accounts manager. He
asked her to leave, but she ignored him. She just sat on a chair,
stayed silent and refused to budge.
He then called the police.
Still, she refused to leave until after the police arrived and
spoke to her.
Three months later, at about 10am, one of Mr Howe’s employees
noticed Song pasting pieces of paper on his car parked outside his
office building.
The employee told Mr Howe what was happening and he went out to
investigate.
He said he saw Song pasting notices listing her grievances about
their relationship on his car. He snapped a photograph of her with
his handphone camera and told her to stop.
COMMOTION
She turned around, shouted at him and grabbed his collar. She
continued shouting and refused to let go of his shirt.
Mr Howe’s foreman and two other workers saw the commotion and
came to his aid.
He had to send his car for cleaning later, spending $175 to get
all the glue marks removed.
One day during the trial in July, Song – who was representing
herself – started laughing and crying. An ambulance had to be
called for her and the trial was postponed to another day.
District Judge Eddy Tham found Song guilty of committing
mischief, using criminal force by grabbing MrHowe, and
trespass.
She pleaded for leniency saying that she had come from China in
2001 to work as a beautician and later a masseuse. She is married
with one son.
She added that she was suffering from depression.
Judge Tham fined her $1,000 and ordered that she compensate Mr
Howe the cost of cleaning his car.
He said: ‘There were no aggravating factors in the present case,
but neither were there any exceptional mitigating
circumstances.’
He noted that despite Song’s claim of depression, she could not
show the court how her condition reduced her culpability.
He said: ‘She had continually harassed Howe despite Howe
repelling her, time and again. She did not show any remorse for her
actions.
‘She defiantly claimed trial even when there was not much of a
defence….’
Judge Tham also noted that Song is not ‘impoverished’, as she is
employed as a masseuse and could afford to pay a private
investigator $5,000 to get information on Mr Howe.
She has filed an appeal against her sentence.
Mr Howe’s lawyer, Mrs Christine Sekhon from Sant Singh
Partnership, declined to comment on the case, as the appeal is
pending.
