Corpun file 26304 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 2 February 2016, p.A3
Police NSF gets 18 years' jail, 15 strokes of cane
He pleads guilty to rape, oral sex, outrage of modesty, extortion while abusing authority
By Selina Lum
A full-time police national serviceman sneaked up on couples behaving intimately at Housing Board staircases, recorded their acts on video and then used his status to extort money from them.
The third time he did this, Muhammad Shazwan Sapuwan went a step further -- he brazenly raped a 16-year-old girl he had "caught" in intimate acts with her boyfriend, who was also 16.
Yesterday, Shazwan, now 23, was jailed for 18 years and ordered to be caned 15 strokes after he pleaded guilty to rape, oral sex, outrage of modesty and extortion.
Five other charges for extortion, cheating and sexual assault were taken into consideration.
While court was stood down for Judicial Commissioner Foo Chee Hock to deliberate on the sentence, Shazwan sobbed loudly as relatives urged him to behave himself while in prison.
The court heard that on Oct 24, 2014, Shazwan followed the young couple to a block of flats, where he quietly observed them from one floor above and took two photos of them being intimate.
He then approached them, identifying himself as a police officer. At the time, he was wearing a Jurong Police Division polo T-shirt, his blue police trousers and a lanyard displaying his police warrant card.
When he asked for their particulars, the couple handed over their identity cards and gave him their mobile phone numbers.
Shazwan told them he would be taking them to the police station. He claimed that footage of their behaviour was already in the "system" and that other officers were nearby.
As the couple cried and begged him to let them go, he told them they had committed the offence of "public nudity". After the girl said she did not want her parents to know about it, they tried to work out a solution to their predicament. During the discussion, Shazwan told them his name.
After an hour, Shazwan hurled vulgarities at them and told them that he was going to "submit" their names as he did not want to lose his job. He told them he would delete the video that was in the "system" and let them go. But they had to repeat their intimate acts for him to record on his phone.
He also told them that if he were to lose his job for letting them go, he would use the recording to threaten them for money.
While the couple were performing sexual acts, Shazwan touched the girl's breast and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He told the boy to have sex with the girl but the teenager refused.
Shazwan then raped the girl. After the rape, he asked the couple why they did not continue the sex acts. He left the scene, telling the couple not to go down until he made sure that the other officers were gone.
That evening, he told the boy on WhatsApp that he had lost his job and needed "help".
Two days later, he told the boy he needed $40. The teenager, fearing that Shazwan would release the video, transferred the money to him.
Three days after the rape, the girl broke down in front of her friends in school and told them what had happened.
Her friends managed to find out Shazwan's identity on Facebook and encouraged her to make a police report. Later that day, she told her family, who went with her to the police.
Deputy Public Prosecutor S. Sellakumaran argued that Shazwan's brazen acts warranted a deterrent sentence; instead of upholding the law, Shazwan had abused his authority as a police officer.
Shazwan, who was represented by lawyers Ravinderpal Singh and James Ow Yong, apologised in court for his "raucous" actions.
Corpun file 26335 at www.corpun.com
Straits Times Interactive (web only), 23 February 2016
Man gets jail and cane for robbing and tying up masseuses
By Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
Teo Zhi Jie was sentenced to two years and seven months in jail and 12 strokes of the cane for robbery and cheating. PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE -- An unemployed man, who robbed and tied up two masseuses with cable ties, was sentenced to two years and seven months in jail and 12 strokes of the cane on Tuesday (Feb 23) for robbery and cheating.
Teo Zhi Jie, 21, was given a concurrent jail sentence of two months and fined the minimum $30,000 for helping a loan shark known as Sam by handing over his bank ATM card to his runner to facilitate in the loan shark's business.
A court heard that on Feb 26 last year, Teo called Lee Qing Yew, 19, and told him of his plan to rob prostitutes who were foreign nationals by impersonating policemen.
One person would make an appointment as a customer and the other would barge in and both would identity themselves as policemen making a check on the unit. They would then steal valuables.
Lee agreed. They decided to target illegal escorts as they thought such victims would not dare to report them. Both men contacted Melvin Tan Shen Kang, 18, who agreed to the plan.
The trio met at Serangoon Road and they bought cable ties.
Teo turned up at the Balestier Road unit of freelance masseuse Hu Yang for his appointment that evening.
Once inside, he asked to use the toilet. When the China national checked and found that he had put on rubber gloves, Teo pushed her to the bed, covered her mouth and tied up her hands with a cable tie. The other two entered the premises and they robbed her of $364, a Visa credit card and other personal belongings.
They divided the loot. Teo kept Ms Hu's card and used it at Mustafa Centre to buy a pair of headphones worth $499.
In the other robbery with wrongful restraint, committed on June 15 last year, it was agreed that Lee would pose as a customer and would let Teo and Andrew Tan Zhi Wei, 28, in once he got into China national He Yuanyuan's unit in Kim Keat Road for a massage.
But Ms He locked the door after Lee got in.
After the massage, Lee left. But he returned shortly, claiming he had left his wallet behind. When Ms He opened the door, Teo and Tan barged in.
They tied up her hands and robbed her of $800, two mobile phones and other items. Teo and Tan left with the stolen items but Lee was detained by Ms He and her boyfriend who came after the other two had fled. All the stolen items, except for a pair of sunglasses, were returned.
Lee, who made restitution of $500 to Ms He, is now at Reformative Training Centre while Melvin Tan will be sentenced on March 3. Andrew Tan has absconded.
