SINGAPORE — She knew both her tenants were prostitutes and had received several warnings from the authorities. But she continued renting rooms in her People’s Park Complex flat in Chinatown to them, pocketing almost S$9,000 over just four months.

For that, Beh Dien Dien was sentenced to 3.5 months’ jail and an S$8,000 fine on Wednesday (May 16). The 45-year-old Singaporean was found guilty last month on three charges under the Women’s Charter after a 13-day trial.

Beh’s husband Chan Kok Poon, who co-owned the unit with her, pleaded guilty last year to renting it out with the knowledge that it would be used as an illegal brothel. He was fined S$3,000.

Two rooms in their unit on the eighth floor were rented out to China nationals Xiang Anmei and Li Hong Juan.

Xiang moved in sometime in the middle of November 2015, while Li moved in about three months later. Both stayed in the flat till March 10, 2016, when they were arrested for prostitution.

During the trial, Xiang and Li testified that they had offered and performed various sexual services, including sexual intercourse, in exchange for money in the unit they rented from Beh. They used part of their earnings to pay their rent.

On Wednesday, the court was told that Beh and Chan owned two flats, and rented two others in People’s Park Complex. The four units were partitioned into 27 rooms. Instead of staying in them, the pair leased out all 27 rooms to earn money.

Between September 2014 and March 2016, the police issued eight warnings to Beh about her tenants being involved in prostitution and massage activities. Chan also received a similar warning from the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

Pointing out that this would “reasonably trigger” Beh’s suspicion that her tenants were prostituting themselves in the unit, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai said: “Yet … (Beh) repeatedly ignored these ‘red flags’ and deliberately refused to inquire into them.”

Furthermore, citing a high degree of premeditation in the way Beh committed her crime, DPP Lai said she had moved Xiang to the eighth-floor unit after the China national had been arrested for prostitution in Beh’s 19th floor unit.

Knowing that Xiang would continue plying her trade there, Beh also got her to get another man, Luo Jin, to sign the tenancy agreement on her behalf. This ensured that Beh could distance herself from Xiang if she got arrested again, since Luo was the registered tenant on paper.

Charging Xiang S$2,200 a month and Li S$3,000 a month in rent, Beh pocketed S$8,600 in total from the duo for the rental of just two rooms in the unit.

In contrast, she charged a third tenant in the unit just S$500 rental a month for a non-en suite room, a move which Mr Lai said “clearly showed the disparity in rent between a prostitute and non-prostitute”.

Citing these and other aggravating factors, DPP Lai asked for at least five months’ jail and a S$13,000 fine.

He noted that landlords such as Beh, who engage and promote the business of prostitution, should be effectively deterred.

“The court should send a clear and stinting message out to all landlords that harsh penalties await those who attempt to hide behind the cloak of a tenancy agreement or simply saying, ‘I don’t want to know what my tenants are doing in their rooms’, despite knowing that they are prostitutes, and that they are plying their trade in the rental unit,” DPP Lai added.

Beh’s lawyer Patrick Tan said that she intends to appeal against her conviction and sentence. She was offered S$20,000 bail to settle her personal affairs.