Lessons

superstud.ling · #1 07-11-2007, 11:07 AM

Lessons for all : Refrain from giving out your contact details. You never know the troubles that come with it....

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Nov 7, 2007
Masseuse who harassed client loses plea against fine
She was fined $1,000 by district court after stalking a managing director
By Chong Chee Kin
A MASSEUSE yesterday lost her fight to overturn her conviction for harassing a regular customer.

The High Court dismissed the appeal filed by Madam Song Jing, 41, who was fined $1,000 in a district court in September, as a result of her client Howe Jee Tian, 55, taking out police summonses against her for showing up uninvited at his Tuas office in August last year.

The married mother of one, a Singapore permanent resident from China, was found guilty of trespass. She was also convicted of a charge of mischief - for having pasted notices on his car windows.

When Mr Howe, a managing director of a contracting company, confronted her, she turned aggressive and grabbed his collar.

The court heard yesterday that she first came to know him in 2003, when he went to the Holland Road massage parlour where she worked.

When she moved to another parlour in Tanjong Pagar, he continued going to her and even gave her his cellphone number.

Things soured in 2004 when he stopped the visits, and she began to pester him. She also stalked the married father of one to his home.

But if she set out yesterday to show Justice V.K. Rajah why her conviction was unwarranted, what she said did little to convince him of her case:

She admitted pasting the notices on Mr Howe's car windows, and even showed the court the glue she used - but insisted that the notices were easily removable.

She also admitted going to his office, but claimed he did not stop her. As for grabbing his collar, she claimed he told his employees to grab her.

'I'm only a woman...Do they need three people to remove me?' she pleaded.

She added that she was depressed and suicidal, but had no medical reports to back these claims because, she said, she could not afford to pay the fee for them.

She also accused Mr Howe of trying to rape her on previous occasions.

Mr Howe's lawyer, Ms Christine Sekhon, said Madam Song was not as poor as she made herself out to be: She had hired a private investigator for $5,000 to tail Mr Howe.

Referring to the alleged rapes, Ms Sekhon also noted that Madam Song did not mention the alleged rapes to the police when she had the chance to.

In dismissing her appeal, Justice Rajah told Madam Song he was satisfied that the judge had ruled correctly, and that the fact that she was a masseuse and from China did not put her at any disadvantage in the legal system.

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