The Singapore Police Force said in a press release that 12 people are under police investigation for their suspected involvement in illegal gambling.

Police officers from Woodlands Police Division conducted an enforcement operation at Yishun Street 61 on Tuesday (25 April).

3 men were arrested for conducting illegal gaming operations, and another 7 men and 1 woman were arrested for gambling through an unlicensed gambling service provider, with the age of the arrested people being between 51 and 64.

Another 76-year-old man is assisting with police investigations for allegedly gambling at an unlawful gambling place.

About $10,700 in cash, 3 mobile phones and gaming paraphernalia were seized by the police officers du ring the raid as case exhibits.

At the time of writing, police investigations into the suspects are ongoing.

Persons found guilty of being involved in illegal gaming operations face a jail term of up to 5 years and a fine of up to $200,000.

Those who are convicted of gambling with an unlicensed gambling service provider face a jail term fo up to 6 months and/or a fine of up to $10,000.

Other illegal gambling cases

Late last month, the Singapore Police Force said that a 51-year-old man had his “unexplained wealth” of about $110,332.67 from running an illegal gambling syndicate seized by the authorities.

In an operation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against a syndicate that operated remote gambling services facilitating lottery, soccer and horse betting since 2014, Gan Chin Huat (Gan), a 51-year-old Singaporean man, was arrested along with nine others.

Police investigations revealed that Gan was the upstream agent in-charge of creating and issuing online betting accounts for six co-offenders on various illegal remote gambling websites that facilitate lottery, soccer, and horse betting. This includes the collection of illegal 4D/TOTO bets and settling of illegal 4D/TOTO monies.

On 12 July 2018, Gan was sentenced to an imprisonment term of 26 months and a fine of S$160,000 for providing a Singapore-based remote gambling service and receiving illegal 4D and TOTO bets under the Remote Gambling Act 2014.

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Following his conviction, the Police had sought a confiscation order against Gan to forfeit the benefits derived by him from criminal conduct. Based on financial investigations conducted by the Police, Gan was found to have accumulated unexplained wealth through his illegal activities over the years. This amount was disproportionate to his known sources of income. On 13 March 2023, the High Court made a confiscation order against Gan, with the amount to be recovered under the order to be a total sum of approximately S$110,332.67.

30-year-old Chew Kee Hock, was sentenced on Wednesday (26 April) to 12 years imprisonment and given 16 strokes of the cane after raping a 52-year-old woman inside an office toilet at Toa Payoh, according to The Straits Times.

He was also ordered to pay $140 in medical fees to the victim.

Chew, who was 28 years old at the time of the offence, had found a 52-year-old woman attractive and hatched a plan to rape her at her workplace.

He was loitering around the toilet and entered while the victim was showering, hitting her head against the wall and basin in an attempt to knock her out so that he could rape her.

However, the woman remained conscious and Chew then forced her to perform oral intercourse on him instead.

Chew pleaded guilty in the High Court to one count of aggravated rape and another count of attempted aggravated rape, with 3 other charges being taken into consideration.

Background

Chew worked at a company selling healthcare products in Toa Payoh.

On 17 August 2021, he heard someone showering in the women’s toilet at the office and saw the 52-year-old victim coming out of the toilet, and found her very attractive.

He then made small talk with her but didn’t ask her for her number.

He then took medical leave 2 days later but returned to his workplace in the evening, wanting to rape the woman.

He found the toilet door locked and discovered that the key to his bedroom could actually unlock the door.

The victim entered the toilet at about 8.30pm for a shower, and Chew then unlocked the door and entered the toilet, slamming the door behind him shut.

He wrestled her on the wet toilet floor and pulled her head, repeatedly hitting her head against the wall and wash basin as she struggled and cried for help.

He then covered the victim’s mouth with her towel and to her that if she continued screaming, he would suffocate her.

The woman eventually stopped screaming and chew then asked her for oral intercourse, which the victim refused – she locked herself inside a cubicle but Chew forced his way into the cubicle and pulled her out, before forcing himself on her.

The victim broke free after the rape and fled the toilet while screaming for help, as Chew then caught up with her and dragged her back into the toilet.

He threw her onto the ground and attempted to gag her with the towel when she then bit his forearm, and he pushed her head back and hit it against the wall.

Chew then demanded oral intercourse from the woman again but was unsuccessful, and he then left for home at about 9pm after feeling tired and leaving the woman crying on the floor.

The victim then put on her clothes before seeking help from security downstairs, and the police were then alerted.

Chew was subsequently arrested the following day.

A 42-year-old woman in Singapore had reportedly burned her daughter by swinging a kettle of boiling water at her during an argument and burning her in the process – the 15-year-old girl ended up with first and second-degree burns on her body.

The mother was sentenced on 26 April to 3 weeks imprisonment for causing hurt by a rash act, according to Channel NewsAsia.

According to CNA, the incident took place on 25 December 2021; the woman had asked her daughter to do some household chores by washing the dishes and boiling the water.

The girl was washing the dishes in the kitchen when the mother began chastising her for staying out late without her permission.

The victim then told her mother that she was at another female friend’s home and the mother then got angry, grabbed the kettle of boiling water and swung it at her daughter.

The boiling water then splashed onto the girl, who then ran to the toilet to rinse herself off; the mother continued scolding her as she called her grandparents for help and went to their place.

Three days before the incident, the girl had stayed over at a friend’s home against her mother’s wishes, and when she returned home the next day at about 7pm, she locked herself in her bedroom.

The mother managed to open the window of the bedroom and shouted at her, throwing shoes at the girl who continued to ignore her.

The girl stayed in her room and only came out the next afternoon.

Following the kettle incident, the victim’s grandparents bought her to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital the next day.

She had medicine applied to her burns but the redness didn’t go away and she developed blisters on her body, which turned out to be second degree burns on her chin, neck, shoulders and chest.

The victim also suffered first degree burns on her forearm, and was hospitalised for 11 days.

A 22-year-old Singapore undergraduate, whose parents divorced, got a lump sum of $180,000 from his father after a court ordered the latter to pay for his expenses as part of maintenance.

Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that the 22-year-old son had described his father as neglectful in court, and made numerous claims against him when filing for maintenance.

The son sought for:

1. Education fees of $91,757
2. 4 years of living expenses of $87,840
3. One-time travelling expenses of $3,000
4. Backdated expenses of $1,532.95

The amounts do not include the $600 monthly maintenance the father must pay him until he gets his university degree.

The son also sought a monthly payment of $200 for his “clothing, bags and shoes”, saying that he needed to buy smart attires for his school presentations and items for his CCA activities.

The judge deemed the son’s request to be extravagant and reduced it to $75 monthly, and rejected the son’s request of $200 for social activities and $100 for his gym fees.

The son’s housewife mother reportedly began divorce proceedings against her husband in 2019, and the father was then ordered to pay $1,000 every month from March 2020, which was meant for his ex-wife and then-19-year-old son.

When then son then turned 21, he became ineligible for the maintenance order, and he then filed another order against his father for himself under the Women’s Charter.

He had reportedly just finished his NS and was enrolled in a local university pursuing engineering, and said in his filing that because of his commitments to his studies and CCAs, he didn’t have time to work part time.

District Judge Sarah Chua said that parents have a duty to provide their children with food, accommodation, clothes and education that is reasonable.

She added that the court considered factors such as the financial needs of the child, the earning capacity of the parent/child and the standard of living before the parent stopped providing reasonable maintenance to the child, when ordering maintenance.

A resident staying in Boon Lay, 42-year-old Hengster Kor, had spent months collecting books and shelves before setting up an open library for the public at his HDB block’s void deck, only to have two of the shelves stolen in less than a day.

The man, who is the chairman of the residents’ network for Boon Lay View, told The Straits Times that on Monday, he spent about 3 hours arranging the books and shelves at the void deck and finished at about 8pm that evening.

When he went back to check on the library the next morning, he was shocked and saddened to see that two of his bookshelves had been stolen.

Kor said that they (the residents) had put in so much effort into setting up the open library and many of them were excited that their project was happening, where people can borrow books as well as donate their own.

On why he decided to open the library, the financial consultant said that he had the idea for the library during the pandemic but was delayed at the time because he didn’t have enough books to set it up.

Kor eventually started the project last month after collecting enough books and shelves from his neighbours and friends, as well as being given the green light from the town council.

He had sorted out the books according to their genre and size, arranging them presentably before the theft, and was planning to move the rest of the book from another block the next day when he discovered his shelves had been stolen.

He later posted about the stolen bookshelves on Facebook, and was heartened by netizens who offered to donate their shelves to him following the theft.

Kor said that he just wanted to give the books and shelves a longer life, and that incidents like these make people think twice about volunteering, adding that he is just someone who wants to help make the world better.

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A 58-year-old man was killed in a chain collision along the Central Expressway (CTE) yesterday morning (26 April), where the driver of a car lost control and crashed into an SUV, before crashing into a bus.

The driver was found unconscious by the other drivers who went to check on him and he still had his foot still on the accelerator after the accident.

Shin Min Daily News reported that the accident took place on the CTE heading towards the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) after the Balestier Road exit.

The driver of a grey car had lost control and crashed into another white SUV, but the grey car didn’t stop and continued driving forward for about 800 metres before crashing into the back of a bus, with the impact being so great that the front bumper of the grey car ended up under the bus, and the hood was also crushed backwards.

The director of the coach service provider which manages the bus that was hit in the accident, Mr Lim, told SMDN that the bus driver alighted from his bus immediately after the collision and went to check on the driver of the grey car.

The driver was found unresponsive inside the car and was lying motionless against the steering wheel, and his foot was still on the accelerator.

The bus driver and the driver of the white SUV that was also hit, tried to reach the unconscious driver inside but couldn’t open his car door.

They deduced that the driver must’ve had a heart attack while driving and they called the police and SCDF for help, with a spokesperson for the SCDF confirming that the accident took place on 26 April at about 6.50 am.

One person was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital after the accident, and the Straits Times reported that a 58-year-old driver had later died at the hospital, citing the police.

At the time of writing, investigations into the accident are underway.