Sex worker who overstayed filed false police report for rape against landlord

SINGAPORE — Angered by her landlord's persistent harassment to have sex with him, a sex worker filed a false police report against him for rape.

The opportunity arose when the landlord lay naked on the bed beside Guo Lili as she slept after a night of servicing clients.

Despite no physical contact between Guo and her landlord, she called the police on him.

Guo, 27, was jailed for five months and four weeks on Thursday (10 March), after she pleaded guilty to one count of providing false information to a police officer, knowing that it would lead to investigations against her landlord for an offence of rape.

Guo, a Chinese national, also pleaded guilty to one count of using a remote communication service to offer her sexual services to others, and a count of unlawfully remaining in Singapore even after the expiry of her special pass on 25 December 2020.

Guo arrived in Singapore on 14 April 2019 and worked as a sex worker through a person who helped to arrange for her housing and advertised her services.

She was first arrested on 18 July 2019 and informed by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) that she would have to leave Singapore by 25 December 2020, when a special pass issued to her would expire. Guo booked a return flight on 24 December 2020 and showed the ticket to the ICA, but she had no intention of leaving. She cancelled her flight and remained in Singapore.

Around 15 January last year, Guo moved into a flat at Crescent Building leased out by the landlord, who charged her $160 daily in rent. This landlord began harassing sex workers at the properties he managed, as he wanted sexual services from them. Guo and the person who helped her find the property then hatched a plan to get this landlord in trouble.

On 18 February last year, after servicing her last client at 10pm, Guo undressed herself and went to bed. Her landlord took a shower and lay on the bed naked beside Guo. Guo woke in the morning to find her landlord beside her.

She then called the police and falsely reported that she suspected she had been raped, in order to have the landlord investigated.

Police officers arrived shortly after Guo's call and she told them that she was an overstayer providing sexual services. She claimed that the landlord and her female friend had come over to have a meal and drink alcohol at around 11.30pm.

“Thereafter, she woke up to find herself in bed with (the landlord). Both of them were undressed. She hence suspected that she had been sexually assaulted in the night. Questioned whether (the landlord) had engaged her sexual services, the accused denied, reiterated that she had not consented to any sexual interaction with (the landlord),” said the prosecution.

Guo only confessed to lying about three hours later when she was interviewed and realised she would have to undergo medical checks. Guo had overstayed by 56 days by that point.

As court proceedings were ongoing, Guo sought numerous adjournments from 7 September to 9 November 2021, claiming that she was seeking a new lawyer and considering her course of action.

On 9 November 2021, acting on a tip-off, police raided Min Wah Hotel at Geylang and found Guo in a room where she had been staying for the past 20 days.

A prepaid SIM card was seized from Guo, who had been using the card's number to receive bookings for sexual services. The number was found in advertisements on two vice websites, with a person named “Ding Dang” offering sexual intercourse at $120 for an hour.

From 22 October last year, Guo had been using the number, which she bought from another sex worker to advertise her sexual services. Officers found 12 condoms in Guo’s hotel room.

Guo had been residing periodically at the hotel for the past two years, paying a monthly rate of $1,800. She was allocated different rooms and would sometimes service her clients there. She had around five to eight clients monthly since her arrival in Singapore, and provided sexual services for $120 for 45 to 60 minute sessions.

John Koh from Populus Law, Guo’s lawyer, said his client was a dutiful daughter who provided money to her parents in China. Guo gave a monthly allowance of around $622 to her mother and around $415 a month to her father, who was in prison.

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