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Man who sublet condominium units to prostitutes for use as brothels pleads guilty

Singapore state courts (Yahoo News Singapore file photo)
Singapore state courts (Yahoo News Singapore file photo)

A man who sublet three condominium units to prostitutes for use as brothels admitted to his offences on Thursday (19 July).

Goh Wee Ming Benson, 37, pleaded guilty in the State Courts to two charges of living off the earning of prostitutes and one charge of letting the units be used as brothels. Five other related charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jaime Pang told the court that in March last year, Goh visited a prostitute, who told him about there being many female prostitutes here seeking HDB units to rent for work and lodging.

Goh posted advertisements on two online platforms – Carousell and Shi Cheng BBS – stating that he would pay between $500 and $800 to individuals who were willing to use their names to rent units for Goh to use.

Between 16 June and 3 August 2017, Goh obtained a unit each at 55 Changi Road, 2 Jalan Lokam, and 1 Geylang East Avenue 2. Goh then sublet each room in the unit to prostitutes for $90 to $120 a day – and eventually collected $8,400 in rent.

At least three prostitutes operated in the units between 24 July and 3 August. They would advertise their services online and meet their customers at the units.

About 75 customers were provided with sexual services in that period. Goh, however, did not take a cut of their earnings nor did he act as a liaison with the customers.

Goh was arrested by the police at about 12.15am on 3 August when he visited the Geylang unit to collect his rent money. The police had raided the unit about seven hours earlier.

Goh will be sentenced on 1 August.

For living off the earning of prostitutes, Goh could be jailed up to five years and fined up to $10,000. For knowingly letting a property be used as a brothel, he faces up to three years’ jail, a fine of up to $3,000, or both.

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