Woman fined for giving sexual services during circuit breaker; jail for man who breached stay-home notice

SINGAPORE — Two individuals were dealt with in court on Wednesday (June 3) for offences related to the Covid-19 pandemic, including a car sales executive who violated his stay-home notice by letting a friend into his Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Orchard hotel room.

Chng Tianxi, 37, was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to two charges under the Infectious Diseases Act and its regulations.

The other individual, Cheng Fengzhao, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was fined S$7,000 for giving massage and masturbation services to a 51-year-old man in a condominium unit for S$100 on May 5.

At that time, circuit breaker measures had been in force for about a month.

Both Chng and Cheng could have been jailed up to six months, fined up to S$10,000 or both.

CHNG’S OFFENCES

The court heard that Chng, a Singaporean, returned from Thailand on March 26. He was given a two-week stay-home notice, which is meant to stem the spread of imported Covid-19 cases.

Before returning, he had already booked a room at Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Orchard. He was ordered to stay there from the day he returned till April 9.

In the wee hours of April 1, however, he left his room to pick up a friend from the hotel basement. She was identified in court documents as Ms Chen Yijun from China.

She left at about 5am after spending about three-and-a-half hours in his room. Neither of them wore a face mask, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jane Lim.

Three days later, Chng let the same friend into his room and she spent one-and-a-half hours there. Again, they did not wear face masks.

A hotel security officer who noticed this alerted the front counter receptionist, who called Chng’s room several times.

In these phone calls, the receptionist told Chng that he was not allowed to leave his room or have visitors. He acknowledged this but said that he needed more time to finish dinner with his friend, DPP Lim said.

The hotel then reported Chng to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

The next day, three ICA officers visited Chng to get more information about his breaches and reminded him to remain in his room till his stay-home notice was over.

However, the next day at about 1am, Chng left his room again to meet three male friends at the hotel basement.

They went to the 16th floor for a few minutes before Chng returned to his room alone. Court documents did not state what they were doing.

Later that day, two ICA officers visited him again to warn him about remaining in his room.

DPP Lim, who sought six weeks’ jail, revealed that Chng’s criminal history dates back to 2000. 

In 2010, he was jailed for 10 months for obtaining a forged identification card and committing criminal breach of trust as a servant.

Chng’s lawyer Vijai Parwani asked for a heavy fine instead. In mitigation, Mr Vijai said that Chng told him he had “maintained a safe distance” with Ms Chen during “his two meetings with her” and spent just two minutes outdoors.

CHENG’S OFFENCE

Meanwhile, the court heard that Cheng, who holds a work permit here, never reported to work with her supposed employer.

Instead, she paid a monthly fee to unknown individuals to help advertise her sexual services on different websites. She also paid an unknown man S$100 every day to rent a condominium unit at Jalan Kemaman.

Court documents showed that she let her “regular customer” in on April 19 and May 5.

On the second occasion, some police officers raided the unit for vice-related offences and discovered them there.

During the raid, they observed the man, who was not identified in court documents, walking into the condominium compound and entering the unit.

About 50 minutes later, someone opened the door and the man left. At that point, the officers identified themselves and entered the unit. There, they found Cheng and another sex worker.

The officers also allowed another man, who had rung the unit’s intercom system, to come up to the unit. 

Court documents did not state whether the second sex worker or the two men were arrested.

In mitigation, Cheng, who did not have a lawyer, said that she was meant to work as a waitress, but discovered there was no such job available when she arrived in Singapore.