Debt collector jailed for wrecking food stall at Funan mall, string of other offences
A man who was part of a group of six debt collectors that wrecked a food court stall in Funan Digital Mall in 2015 was jailed four years and two months on Thursday (16 November) for a string of offences, including harassing debtors.
Francis Lee Sian Sian, 41, was also fined $10,000 and disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for life and sentenced on various other charges unrelated to his debt-collecting antics.
Of the 48 charges Lee was slapped with – which included voluntarily causing hurt, driving while under disqualification, rash driving and theft of a motor vehicle – he was convicted on 19, while another 26 were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
He is claiming trial to one charge of rioting while a charge of robbery and one of voluntarily causing hurt have been subjected to a discharge amounting to an acquittal.
Funan mall incident
Lee, was working as a debt collector with Double Ace Associates at the time of the Funan Digital Mall incident. He along with five colleagues had been tasked to collect a $21,000 debt on behalf of the company’s client, Oregano Trading.
The five accomplices, Chew Keng Leng Andra, 39, Tan David, 36, Francis Lee Sian Sian, 39, Tang Wei Leong, 44, Lim Boon Tiong, 41, and Yong Chee Meng, 39, have all been sentenced.
On 15 January 2015, the six put on matching black polo t-shirts bearing the words “Debt Recovery” and visited the Soup Master food stall at Funan’s Food Junction outlet around 1.15pm.
The stall’s owner, Sherman Chang, was absent at the time. In his place was 35-year-old Li Lili, who was manning the stall.
The group then told Li that they were there to collect the owner’s supposed debt and would disrupt business if their demands were not met.
They then switched off the stall’s lights, put up a banner bearing the message “Debt recovery in progress” in front of the store and took turns to tell customers that the stall was closed. The men then demanded that Li contact her boss and let him know to pay his alleged debt.
They did this for over an hour before vandalising the stall. Yong kicked a rice cooker, pushed the cash register onto the floor and swept utensils off the counter top while Chew added various sauces and food into a pot of soup, ruining it. Around $880 worth of damage was done to the stall.
History of harassment and violence
After leaving the Funan Digital Mall, Lee and six other debt collectors visited Neo R & R Pte Ltd, a car rental company, to collect on an alleged $7,000 debt.
While there Lee struck 32-year-old Lan Jurong, the business’ accounts manager and the wife of its owner, in the face after she tore up a debt recovery form. A subsequent medical report showed that the victim, who was also three months’ pregnant at the time, suffered a fractured nose and tenderness over her nasal bridge.
For his actions, Lee was charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
Earlier that month, on 8 January 2015, Lee and two others went to collect a $32,143 debt at a flat in Jalan Berseh from a George Lazar.
While the trio were there, they demanded that the tenant, Lazar’s niece, settle the debt. When the tenant failed to do so, the trio repeatedly kicked the gate of the flat and shouted vulgarities at the woman. They also cut off the electricity to the woman’s flat, plunging her house in darkness.
Lee also committed offences while visiting debtors on separate occasions in 2014.
In January that year, he gained access to a condominium unit where his debtor was residing and rang the doorbell continuously. He later banged the door repeatedly. When the tenant took a video of his actions on her mobile phone, Lee grabbed the device and threw it over the parapet.
In April 2014, Lee and two others went to a Korean Restaurant at Thomson Road to collect a debt from a woman who worked there. The woman’s sister, who was also present, filmed the three as they were creating a ruckus, prompting Lee to slap her.
Lee, who was given a lifelong ban for driving all classes of vehicles in 2007, was disqualified for life again for driving offences committed while he was banned.
On 8 August last year, Lee hit a National Environment Agency (NEA) officer with his car after the officer caught him for throwing a lit cigarette butt onto the ground at an open-air car park off Clemenceau Avenue North.
As a result, the officer was flung onto the bonnet of the car. He clung onto the wiper of the car but Lee did not stop. Lee drove with the officer hanging onto the bonnet of the car for 146m before the officer fell off near the exit of the car park.
The prosecution sought a jail term of at least three years and 11 months. Said Deputy Public Prosecutor Kenneth Kee, “Being licensed and being legitimate are two separate concepts – a point that (Lee) failed to comprehend by engaging in the very same strong-arm tactics commonly employed by unlicensed moneylenders.”
In sentencing Lee, District Judge John Ng noted that he had numerous charges, previous convictions and had also offended while on bail.”
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