38-year-old woman gets jail for living on prostitute’s earnings; crime detected after police responded to unrelated call
SINGAPORE — A woman's involvement in vice-related activities was inadvertently uncovered by the police when they responded to a call for help after someone saw her standing on a third-floor ledge of a residential unit in Jalan Besar.
Once she was rescued, Sukphansa Jongdee told police that she had climbed onto the ledge because of a faulty door lock.
When the police spoke with another woman in the unit, she revealed that the residence was being used to provide prostitution services, including by herself.
The witness cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.
Subsequent checks by the police found stashes of lubricants and condoms in each of the six rooms in the unit.
On Monday (May 8), 38-year-old Sukphansa, who is from Thailand, pleaded guilty to a single charge under the Women's Charter for knowingly living on the earnings of the prostitution of another person.
She was sentenced to eight weeks' jail.
A second charge under the Immigration Act for overstaying after the expiry of her visit pass was also taken into consideration during sentencing.
WHAT HAPPENED
Court documents showed that Sukphansa arrived in Singapore from Thailand on Jan 11 this year and declared that she was “here for leisure travel”, even though she intended to work illegally until her visit pass expired on Feb 10.
She eventually met someone named "Wan" who helped her to find a job cleaning various pubs for S$50 a day. It was not stated in court documents when the two met.
During this period, Sukphansa claimed to have lost her passport but did not report the loss. Instead, she chose to continue her illegal work to earn more money.
It was during this overstay period that she started to work for a vice syndicate.
Sometime in late March this year, Wan introduced Sukphansa to a Thai woman named "One" who offered Sukphansa another job.
In this new role, Sukphansa was tasked to clean and run errands, which included obtaining daily supplies for prostitutes, and assisting with the collection of earnings from the prostitutes who live in the syndicate's two residential units in Jalan Besar and the Orchard Road area. Court documents did not state the type of residence for both units.
For her assistance, Sukphansa was provided with accommodation at the residence in the Orchard Road area.
In addition to that, she was told her pay of S$100 will be drawn from the prostitution earnings for each day that they were collected. She was then tasked to deposit the balance together with the prostitution client records into the Jalan Besar residential unit's mailbox before 2am.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Teo Yao Long told the court that this arrangement by the syndicate was to minimise contact between parties and to avoid police detection.
The woman called One also avoided direct contact with Sukphansa, choosing to correspond with her through the prostitutes.
Sukphansa officially started work on April 1 where she handled the earnings and client records of four prostitutes, including the witness from whom she had received S$400 of her pay.
Sukphansa was arrested on April 8, the day she was found standing on the ledge. Court documents did not state if Wan or One has been arrested or dealt with by the authorities.
DPP Teo told the court that Sukphansa was not only "unremorseful" but was also "deceptive" when she gave the police false addresses during investigations into the location of her residence.
Sukphansa, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded with District Judge Jasvender Kaur to "show her mercy" since she is from a different country. Sukphansa also claimed that she was living with the other women “as siblings” who provided her “with food and accommodation”.
For knowingly living on the earnings of the prostitution of persons, Sukphansa could have been jailed up to seven years and fined up to S$100,000.
