Singapore — Three friends thought that an easy way to make money would be by robbing prostitutes. One of them not only robbed a 53-year-old sex worker but also raped her afterwards.
Mendel See Li Quan (19), a Malaysian national, has been sentenced to seven years of jail and 15 strokes of the cane for his offences.
See committed the crimes when he was only 17 years old. He schemed with his Singaporean friends Benjamin Yong Dun Zheng and Chow Chia Suan who were both then 23.
See pleaded guilty to one charge each of raping and robbing the 53-year-old victim in Oct 2017, and a charge of stealing S$670 from another victim in Sept 2017.
Yong and Chow pleaded guilty to one charge each of robbery, cheating and theft. Yong was sentenced to three and a half years of jail and 12 strokes of the cane while Chow was sentenced to four year of jail.
According to an initial report by The Straits Times, the trio planned elaborate schemes to rob the prostitutes.
Either See and Yong would hire prostitutes while the others would then steal from the victim’s bag as she was away in the bathroom.
Other times, one of them would pretend to be a loan shark and rob the victim to pay for the customer’s “debt.”
Last Oct 1, 2017, See contacted the 53-year-old victim who asked a Filipina sex worker to meet him at his Yishun condominium.
The Filipina did not show up, and See was enraged. He wanted to “take revenge” on the victim for being slighted.
After hatching a plan with his friends, See contacted the victim and told her he would be paying S$900 for her services. He told the victim to go to Yong’s Yishun flat instead.
When the victim arrived, See and Chow threatened the victim at knife point and demanded she pay them. They took her bag and grabbed two phones and S$100.
See then told the victim who wanted to leave to take off her clothes. Chow and Yong left the room upon See’s request. See then proceeded to rape the victim at knife point.
The victim filed a report after she left the flat.
The suspects then spent the victim’s money on food and played games at an internet shop.
See argued that he now regrets his actions and said that he mingled with bad friends because his parents were too busy at work.
Justice Valerie Thean noted See’s “violence and brutality towards the victim” and thus disregarded the appeal for rehabilitation.-/TISG