HE was a medium who first pretended to be their saviour. They
are two women who eventually became his slaves.
Liao Chew Hat, 52, had so much power over them that the women
??one in her 40s and the other in her 30s ??endured his sexual and
violent abuse for years.
Liao, who was also a cabby and ran several cooked-food stalls,
once slapped one of the women, forcibly stripped her naked, and
ordered her to get out of her room and have sex with the workers at
the hostel where his coffee-shop employees stayed.
He also threatened the other victim, saying he would kill her
two sons, then kill her, and kill himself.
When she tried to avoid him, he sent her 173 threatening SMSes
over four days, went to her house to look for her, and kicked at
her bedroom door.
On 29 Apr, the women's ordeal was finally over.
Liao was sentenced to 21 months' jail, and fined $3,000
for what District Judge Eddy Tham described as "inexcusable" acts
and outrage of modesty that was "terribly humiliating and
demeaning".
Liao had pleaded guilty to five of nine charges last month
??outrage of modesty, criminal intimidation, causing hurt,
committing mischief, and causing harassment, alarm or distress.
The four remaining charges ??including one for causing hurt to
the second victim's 11-year-old son ??were taken into consideration
during sentencing.
The court ordered that both victims not be identified as the
first woman was the victim of a sex crime, and the second woman's
son, a minor, was involved.
But the jail sentence was of little comfort to the two victims,
Malaysian Cynthia, now 43, and Singaporean Jane, now 37 (not their
real names), who escaped from Liao and filed police reports against
him in September and October 2006.
Jane, who has two sons aged 15 and 11, said: "Even though he has
been jailed, nothing can take back what he has done to us."
They told The New Paper on Sunday that they suffered Liao's
abuse for so long because he claimed to be a medium. He told them
separately that they had been hexed, and the only way to be
"cleansed" was to have sex with him.
Both women said that he first presented himself as a brotherly
figure to gain their trust.
The New Paper first reported on them last February.
Jane's police report, filed on 30 Sep 2006, said that she first
met Liao in 2000, through her then-husband Tom (not his real
name).
She was going through a "marital crisis" with Tom, who suffered
from depression and was prone to violent outbursts against her and
their two sons, prompting her to file for divorce and take out a
personal protection order against him.
She wrote in the police report that Liao claimed that Tom had
used black magic on her.
He told her that she was "destined to be his spiritual wife
under the instruction of god", and if she did everything he said,
he would help handle her ex-husband's harassment.
Liao would then go to Jane's flat whenever he wanted to have
sex.
She said that, coincidentally, whenever she tried to refuse
Liao, Tom's harassment became worse.
"I followed Liao and believed everything he said," she wrote in
the police report, because she feared for herself and her two
sons.
Cynthia, who started working at Liao's stall in 2004, told a
similar story.
She, too, had marital problems. She said Liao had convinced her
that she was hexed, and had to have sex with him to be rid of the
curse.
Liao was never charged with any crimes relating to having sex
with either women.
Instead, in his mitigation plea, he claimed that Jane was his
mistress, and that the two women were in cahoots to cheat him of
his money.
But the women denied both accusations. "Just look at his face,"
Jane said. "Why would anyone want to have sex with him?"
Court documents revealed that Liao would frequently drink
alcohol during and after work. What followed such drinking sessions
were "bouts of anger and violence" against both victims.
When this started, both women said they did not dare tell
anyone. They felt trapped by their own shame.
Jane's sons were also affected. Her older son told The New Paper
on Sunday: "He would make me and my brother work at the coffee
shops until after midnight. We did this for two years, every
Saturday, Sunday and school holidays.
"Every day, he would scold us. He scolded my mother all the
time. The customers would see my mother, so pathetic. That time,
she looked like a robot, no time to eat.
"He told my mother, you either work for us or (your) family
members will have physical harm, or you'll lose your family members
forever.
"I saw him hit my brother. He also hit my mother countless
times. I felt so helpless, I couldn't do anything.
"It was like hell, and my family members were like POWs
(prisoners of war)."
Things came to a head on 20 Sep 2006 when Cynthia, who stayed at
a work hostel, was verbally abused by Liao.
She said: "I kept thinking to myself, why is all this happening
to me? How did it become like this?"
When she finally returned at 3am, Liao was at the hostel. He
scolded her, followed her into her room and slapped her on the left
side of her face about five or six times.
He then said he would strip her naked and let other people have
sex with her.
He then forcibly stripped her naked by removing her blouse, bra,
jeans and panties, and told her to get out of the room to sleep
with the workers in the hostel.
Liao then fell asleep on Cynthia's bed. She spent the night
lying awake in the corner.
She said: "I was in a daze. I was so scared and I didn't dare to
move, so I just curled up at a corner on the floor."
The next day, when Jane saw Cynthia's injuries, the two women
realised they could no longer put up with the abuse.
Jane finally confided in a woman friend, who helped the two
escape from Liao several days later.
The friend, who declined to be named, said: "Cynthia's face was
slapped until it was all bruised. And Jane kept crying. She lost so
much weight, she looked like a ghost."
Jane stayed at the friend's house to avoid Liao, while Cynthia
stayed with a relative, and went to a clinic to seek treatment for
her pain and the loss of hearing in her left ear.
She was referred to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where a doctor found
dried blood in her left ear canal, and bruising around her left
cheekbone.
It was during this period that Liao sent Jane 173 threatening
and insulting SMS messages.
He also went to her house to look for her,and kicked at her
bedroom door and damaged it.
Both women lodged police reports.
Jane said: "After being under his control for so many years, I
think he never expected I would talk about all these shameful
things. Who would believe me?
"But God knows. Every day, I prayed to God, ?ive me justice,
see him put behind bars' or even if I die, I won't be able to die
in peace."
Cynthia said that after she returned to Malaysia, she told her
husband what happened.
"He said he can't forgive me and wants a divorce," she said.
She now lives with her 17-year-old daughter.
Jane said that throughout the ordeal, the thought of her sons
kept her going.
After her escape, she got help by going to a counselling group.
Her sons have also seen their school counsellors.
She has since sold her flat and changed jobs. "I have to move on
with my life. I can't carry on and brood over what happened to
me."
Both women said they are sharing their story so that other women
would not keep quiet if they face a similar plight.
Jane said: "You need to speak up. You don't need to feel shy and
keep the pain in your heart. It has already happened. Don't let
there be more victims because you kept quiet."
HIS EXCUSES ARE... AN INSULT TO OUR
SUFFERING
HE claimed he had committed the crimes under "desperate
circumstances" and "grave provocation".
In his mitigation plea, Liao, who is married with four grown
children, claimed that one of the victims, Jane, was his
mistress.
He claimed that he supported Jane and her two children
financially, and gave her money to set up a business and run
several cooked-food stalls that he had set up.
He said that subsequently, she and Cynthia, who were employed to
help at the stalls, refused to account for the money collected from
the businesses despite his repeated demands.
He said Jane also failed to pay the suppliers for the groceries
bought.
But District Judge Eddy Tham found Liao's actions
"inexcusable".
He sentenced the man to six months' jail for criminal
intimidation for threatening to kill Jane and her two sons; $2,000
fine, in default two weeks' jail for causing distress to her by
sending 173 SMS messages; and $1,000 fine for committing mischief
by damaging her bedroom door.
He also sentenced him to six months' jail for causing hurt to
Cynthia, and 15 months' jail for using criminal force to outrage
her modesty.
One of the six-month sentences will run concurrently, bringing
the total sentence to 21 months' jail and $3,000 fine.
Jane, Cynthia, and a handful of their close friends and
relatives were in court to witness the sentencing.
Cynthia had come from Johor to Singapore specially to hear the
verdict.
"Of course, I must come to see justice served," she said.
When the sentence was read, Liao, who was wearing a white shirt
and dark trousers, looked solemn.
He spoke briefly to a woman who had accompanied him to court,
before he was handcuffed and led away. The woman, who declined to
give her name, said she was Liao's sister.
Jane and Cynthia admitted that they had mixed feelings after the
court session.
They were happy that Liao was jailed and the case has finally
come to an end, but were upset by his mitigation plea ??his claims
that Jane was his mistress and they had cheated him of money.
They vehemently denied the accusations.
Jane said: "He claimed that I was his mistress and we had
cheated him, and we had no chance to refute that in court.
"It was like a final insult to everything we've already
suffered."
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i think the sentence is really too light for such a heinous
crime... such sex criminals should be locked up for life.. and
caned till they die... for causing the physical pain and lifelong
emotional hurt.
how i wish to castrate him and drown him in boiling oil
ladies... pls do not suffer in silence. there's gotta be a
solution to such hell
