Sex worker gets jail for falsely accusing landlord of rape after he harassed her for services

SINGAPORE — When Guo Lili’s landlord began harassing her and other vice workers at the properties he managed for sexual services, she came up with a plot to get him into trouble.

Guo then called the police one morning and lied that he had raped her. She came clean about the lie later on when she realised that she would have to undergo medical checks.

Guo, who is from China, was jailed for five months and four weeks on Thursday (March 10).

The 27-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge each of providing false information to a public servant, overstaying in Singapore, and using a remote communication service to offer sexual services.

The court heard that Guo first came to Singapore in April 2019. She entered the sex trade through the help of a man identified in court documents as Wen Dong, who arranged her accommodation and advertised her sexual services online.

She was arrested in July that year for illicitly providing sexual services and placed on a special pass. 

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) or the Ministry of Manpower issues special passes that allow foreigners to stay in Singapore for specific purposes, such as to help with investigations and attend court proceedings.

ICA then told Guo that she had to leave Singapore by Dec 25, 2020 when her special pass expired.

Court documents did not indicate if the authorities took action against her for providing sexual services.

She booked a flight for the day before and showed her ticket to ICA, but later cancelled her flight and began overstaying here.

In January last year, Wen Dong then got her to move into a flat in Balestier that was leased by Mr Jia Tongzhen, who managed a few properties for vice workers. Guo had to pay him S$160 every day in rent.

The court heard that Mr Jia was harassing several vice workers in a bid to get them to have paid sex with him. Because of this, Guo and Wen Dong came up with a plan.

HOW THE PLAN WORKED

After meeting a client on Feb 18 last year, Mr Jia and Guo’s female friend went over to the flat at around 11.30pm for a meal and drinks. When the other woman left at about 2am, Mr Jia took a shower.

Guo then undressed and lay on the bed. When she woke up sometime later, he was lying naked on the bed beside her.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Yvonne Poon told the court: "Despite knowing that they had not had sexual intercourse, the accused called the police and falsely reported that she suspected she had been raped. Her main purpose for doing so was to get the police to investigate Mr Jia.”

When police officers arrived at 6.30am, Guo told them she was an overstayer who had been providing sexual services to sustain herself.

She claimed that her last memory of that morning was when her friend left the flat. She said that she then woke up to find herself in bed with Mr Jia and both of them were undressed, so she suspected that she had been sexually assaulted in the night.

When questioned if Mr Jia had engaged her sexual services, Guo denied this and reiterated that she had not consented to any sexual interaction with him. She also repeated her suspicion that she had been raped.

She then told the truth at about 9.30am, when an investigation officer interviewed her and she realised that she would have to undergo medical checks.

She was unable to provide any information that could lead to Wen Dong being identified. By then, she had overstayed in Singapore for 56 days.

REOFFENDED WHILE OUT ON BAIL

After Guo was charged in court, she sought numerous adjournments from September to November last year, claiming that she was seeking new lawyers and considering her course of action.

On Nov 9 last year, police officers who were acting on a tip-off raided Min Wah Hotel in Geylang. They found her in a room there.

Investigations revealed that she had been staying periodically there for the past two years and would sometimes provide sexual services for clients there. She charged S$120 for sessions ranging from 45 to 60 minutes in length, court documents said.

She had also taken over a former vice worker’s mobile phone number, paying the other woman S$400 to use her advertisements on two vice websites.

DPP Poon argued in her sentencing submissions that Guo had “made an extremely serious allegation” against her landlord, which was difficult to disprove.

The prosecutor added: “Her actions unconscionably make light of the trauma of actual sexual assault survivors and further exacerbate the uphill battle they already face to report their assaults and be believed.

“Multiple sets of police resources, as is protocol for allegations of sexual assault, had been activated to respond to the report, resulting in a waste of investigative resources.”

DPP Poon also noted that Guo had reoffended while out on bail, and it was her third time being nabbed for providing vice services.

In mitigation, Guo’s defence counsel, Mr John Koh from Populus Law Corporation, said that her father has also been imprisoned in China and she provides her mother with a monthly allowance.

Mr Koh added that Guo was “truly remorseful” and fully cooperated with the police.

For giving false information to a public servant, she could have been jailed for up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.