Beauty salon owner who provided sexual services among 3 S’poreans sentenced for circuit breaker offences

SINGAPORE — A 55-year-old beauty salon owner, Jin Yin, was fined S$22,000 on Wednesday (June 10) for providing massage and masturbation services to a customer three days after the circuit breaker period kicked in.

Two other men were also dealt with on Wednesday for circuit breaker offences. 

Ong King Hwa, 63, was fined S$3,500 for leaving his home multiple times to drink beer and chat with others at a public bench while not wearing his face mask properly.

When police officers asked Ong to return home immediately, he eventually challenged them to “summon him”. He had already failed to pay several composition sums for violating circuit breaker measures.

Meanwhile, Yee Choon Wah, 52, was jailed for four weeks for smashing his neighbour’s window with a golf club.

He did not wear a face mask and left his home without a reasonable excuse in order to do this.

JIN’S CASE

The court heard that Jin, a Singaporean, owned the In-Style Beauty Salon along Upper Cross Street in Chinatown.

She pleaded guilty to providing massage services without a licence and failing to ensure the salon was closed during the circuit breaker period.

On April 10, Mr Chan Fun Hwee, 67, booked an appointment with Jin. He had come across an online advertisement for her salon for massage and masturbation services. He paid her S$150 for both services.

Jin knew that her salon could not operate but she still accepted Mr Chan’s booking. 

“She even sent the customer a text message to confirm that she was ‘open all the way’ ‘like normal’. When (he) asked if it was safe to go down to the salon, fearing police checks, the accused sent him a text message to assure him, saying that she was ‘working close door (sic)’,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jane Lim told the court.

Police officers turned up at the salon in response to two calls from members of the public.

When they entered the salon, they found Mr Chan sitting on a massage bed. Neither he nor Jin were wearing face masks. 

DPP Lim told the court that Jin was fined in 2014 and 2016 for the same offence of running an unlicensed massage establishment.

Jin said tearfully during her mitigation that her mother had died from cancer last year and that she had a daughter who was studying in China. 

Senior District Judge Bala Reddy told her: “There’s no need to impress me by crying here.”

She had previously pleaded guilty, but her plea was rejected as another judge had found her too emotional to take the plea.

It is not known if Mr Chan was dealt with.

ONG’S CASE

The court on Wednesday heard that Ong had already been issued a composition sum of S$300 for leaving his home on April 12.

However, on the evening of May 3, he met his friend to drink and chat.

The two elderly men sat on a stone bench outside a Hao Supermarket outlet at Whampoa Drive, near Ong’s home.

When they saw police officers approaching, Ong pulled up his mask to cover his eyes and left his mouth exposed, then pretended not to see them. He eventually put his mask on properly.

Ong was ordered to pay a composition sum of S$1,000 for this, which he did not.

Five days later, Ong met two other men at the same bench. 

Police officers noticed that they were not wearing their face masks properly, leaving their noses and mouths exposed.

Ong said that he met the other men as he had “nothing to do at home”. 

On compassionate grounds, the officers told them to go home immediately and that enforcement action would only be taken if they were still there five minutes later.

Ong’s friends left but he refused to. He then took out his identity card and challenged the officers to “summon him”.

DPP Lim sought the fine imposed, describing him as a recalcitrant offender who “ignored the chances given to him” and further breached safe distancing measures.

YEE’S CASE

In Yee’s case, the court heard that he was home on April 18 when he perceived the smell of cigarette smoke coming from his neighbours’ flats.

Angered by this, he took a golf club and smashed the window of one of his neighbours’ units.

A 49-year-old woman who lived there was injured after the glass shattered and a shard struck her forearm.

Yee has not made restitution for the S$400 in damages caused to the window.

It is unclear if his neighbours had actually been smoking.