Singapore—Thirty-eight-year-old Farlynda Tan was sentenced to fine months’ jail and a S$920 fine on Friday (Feb 19) for running a social escort service that offered sex.
Among the females hired by Tan, a mother of two and a former model and escort, was a 16-year-old girl.Â
CNA reports that Tan earned S$30,000 over four years.
She entered a guilty plea to two charges under the Women’s Charter as she had partly lived on the 16-year-old girl’s earnings as well as engaged her services as a sex worker.
Tan, who was arrested in 2019, used to hire freelance models and escorts to offer intimate services to male clients.
The teen had seen Tan’s ad on Carousell for freelance modelling and “fast cash”. She was told by Tan about the two types of work she offered —companionship and escorting.
Tan explained that being a “girlfriend” to her clients would include sexual services, and that she would take 40 per cent of the teen’s earnings.
The teen, who falsely claimed to be 19 years old, agreed to the arrangement.
Tan failed to ascertain the girl’s age.
The teen’s first “intimacy assignment” was on 14 June 2019, when she met and had sexual relations with a Singaporean man at the Marina Mandarin Hotel, for which she was paid S$1,300. She handed over S$520 to Tan.
Her second assignment occurred later that month, on June 22, when she was paid S$1,001 for the sexual services she rendered to a man in a condominium in Sengkang. She then gave Tan S$402, bringing Tan’s total earnings from the girl to S$920.
Tan continued to make “intimacy assignments” for various women in her employ until her arrest in November 2019.
The authorities discovered that she had hired the teen from their exchanges on WhatsApp.
Tan, who wept throughout the court proceedings on Friday, initially denied that she had operated an escort company.
Her lawyer, Mr Noor Mohamed Marican, said she had wanted to enter a guilty plea sooner but “could not adjust to the reality that she faced”.
He told District Judge Prem Raj, “She has difficulty in facing reality now, that is the reason for her breaking down several times. It has caused her so much of embarrassment and she has herself to blame, I’m aware, but this is a difficult period now. She has told me she wants to move on and be a useful citizen and to move forward and not to repeat what she has done.”
Mr Marican added that she was remorseful for her actions.
Tan could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up S$10,000 or both for the offence of procuring a girl for the purpose of prostitution and living on the earnings.
/TISG
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