17YO Teen Who Robbed & Raped 53YO Sex Worker Jailed 7 years; Parents Plead for Leniency

Dear reader, in this post I’d like to announce that Goody Feed shall henceforth be known as Baddy Feed. Another day, another terrible news…

We’d also undergo a color scheme change to red, to show that we’ve now tainted our hands with blood and fury.

 

…Or not.

But this is yet another one of those “the f*ck am I reading” cases.

Image: KnowYourMeme

A Trio Discuss Ways To Make Money, Decides To Rob Prostitutes

In 2017, Mendel See Li Quan, 17 at the time, got to know Benjamin Yong Dun Zheng and his girlfriend Chow Chia Suan, both 23. Yong and Chow are both Singaporeans, while See is a PR.

So they started discussing ways to make money, and somehow See decided that robbing prostitutes was the way to go.

I don’t know what they thought “making” money meant, because in this case, this is clearly “taking” money instead of “making” it.

(Say you offer a cleaning service for $10. Now you’re “making” money because you add $10 worth of value (in the form of a cleaning service) to the economy. On the other hand, robbing someone else doesn’t do that.)

Of all people, they choose prostitutes who aren’t exactly known for being rich? Ok.

Let’s just say the trio weren’t smart and decided to go with this plan: Yong or See will hire a prostitute. The other two will steal while the prostitute is in the bathroom. Alternatively, the two pretend to be loan sharks and will rob the prostitute to pay for the loan.

Committing The Crimes On a 53-Year-Old Sex Worker For ‘Revenge’

On 1 Oct 2017, See contacted a 53-year-old freelance sex worker to arrange for a Filipina to meet at his condo at Canberra Drive, Yishun.

The Filipina didn’t turn up, so on the next day, See decided to take revenge by hiring the 53-year-old for S$900, and go to Yong’s house, an HDB in Yishun.

They initiated the plan after she arrived, with See and Chow pretending to be loan sharks demanding payment from Yong. This happened between 10.05pm and 10.39pm.

See pointed a chopper at her, shouting at her not to move, while taking her bag away for Chow to search the bag and rob two mobile phones and S$100 in cash.

She later told See she wants to go home, but See then told her to take her clothes off. When she said there were too many people in the room, See told Yong and Chow to go outside, which they did.

Yong and Chow both don’t know what happened in the room but See demanded sex while holding a chopper, and she could only comply.

She later contacted the police after reaching home. The trio spent the money on food, transport, and games at an internet gaming shop.

Separately, See also stole $670 from another victim in September 2017.

See was sentenced to seven years of jail and 15 strokes of caning on 16 September 2019.

Yong was sentenced to three and a half years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, while Chow was sentenced to four years’ jail.

See’s lawyer is appealing against the sentence, seeking for reformative training. His bail was doubled to $100,000 pending appeal.

See’s Parents Write Letter, Say Willing To Take His Place

As reported by Shinmin Daily News, See’s parents wrote a 689-word letter in English pleading for a lighter sentence, even saying that they are willing to take his place.

They were furious with their son’s actions but also felt responsible for his poor upbringing.

As they were always busy with work in Malaysia, they had little time to spend with their son.

It was too late to realise that their son had made terrible friends and was arrested by the police.

After bailing their son out, they’ve tried to spend as much time as a family together. In their letter, they said the son has reflected on his actions on the past two years. They hope to support him in his studies as he serves time in prison so that he can return to society as a more upstanding person eventually.

In the letter, See also said that he regretted making friends with bad company, and had dreams of becoming a pilot.

“However, I am afraid that because of my mistake and the punishment I receive will result in me losing the opportunity to pursue my dream.”

Now… I’m in no position to giving judgments here, but I don’t think you can just say pretty words and hope that that somehow makes the actions in the past look better.