Just check out what were the comments given in the link below for this report:
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/02/15/army-captain-turned-loanshark-runner-charged-in-court/#
SAF captain turned loan-shark runner sentenced to jail, caning
By Faris – February 19th, 2011
Kheng said that his first visit to the casino at Resorts World Sentosa had got him hooked and in the next few months, his loss exceeded “five figures”.
An army captain was sentenced to 2 years’ jail and twelve strokes of the cane for working as a loan-shark runner to repay his debts.
Kheng Kok Keong, 34, had pleaded guilty on Monday to four charges of harassment for vandalizing the homes of alleged debtors. Seventeen other charges were taken into consideration by the judge in sentencing.
The father of two children revealed that his first visit to the casino at Resorts World Sentosa last year had got him hooked. As such, he made repeated visits. In the next few months, he went on to lose a small fortune exceeding “five figures”.
“I went to the casino to check out the place out of curiosity but things started (to get out of control) from there and I just couldn’t stop,” he told The Straits Times on Thursday. After losing $30,000 at roulette, he turned to unlicensed moneylenders. When he could not repay the loans, he was roped in by a creditor — known only as Ah Seng — to harass other debtors.
His jail term was backdated to Oct 16. He had been held in remand after he was arrested at Block 103, Commonwealth Crescent. That night, he had vandalised an eighth-floor unit. He was caught by his victim when he returned to retrieve a pack of cigarettes he had left behind.
By then, he had been on the “job” for four months. From last June, he had vandalised homes by splashing paint on doors, injecting glue into padlocks and keyholes, and scrawling messages on walls.
Before his run-in with the law, Kheng was working as a logistics officer in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), drawing a monthly salary of $5,000. In his 14 years with the army, he had also served as a peacekeeper in Timor Leste. He was sacked after he was charged.
According to court documents, he vandalised 21 flats in September and October last year, mainly in Clementi, Commonwealth Crescent, Redhill and Toa Payoh. Whenever he received an assignment, he would leave his Yishun Avenue 6 flat with his gear of black paint, black permanent marker, superglue and ski mask which he wore to obscure his face.
“Since I borrowed money, and they offered me this option, I just did it,” he said of his decision to be a loan-shark runner. “I wasn’t scared, I just thought that was the only way to repay the amount.”
He earned $2,000 each month for his efforts, all of which went towards paying off his debts.
Before he turned to Ah Seng, he had borrowed smaller sums from friends. But each time, he would go back to the casino hoping to recoup what he had lost. That was how his losses snowballed, he said.
After his arrest, his creditors besieged his flat and threw black paint on the gates, as he had done to his victims. To avoid the harassment, his wife returned to her native Taiwan, taking along their children aged five and seven.
Asked if he regretted his actions, Kheng fell silent. “I have lost contact with her,” he said of his wife. His parents, who were not at the sentencing, had also become estranged from him.
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The diesease of addiction not only affected people with low education, low income or poor family. It can also affect people who had good education, high education, high income, a well-to-do family too.
Man, woman, young, old, rich, poor ..... It's always only evident as a gambling problem when one start losing .....
The diesease of gambling addiction has no preference ..... it can hit anyone, anytime, winning, losing, chasing etc ....
IT has no cure but it can be ARRESTED ..... but you can't do it on your own ...
So now even our govt sector people are affected ..... so is it "infectious" ... how bad has it spread ??
Is anyone looking into it ? Is anyone providing help, reaching out to these group of people, helping them to get back on the right track again ? Is all the money we spent on this community project of "Know the Line" working ?? Anyone really evaluating it ???
On the other hand, many gambling addicts kept complaining ... "Is anyone giving us a second chance ......."
To all gambling addicts out there ..
I have a message for you ....
"You have to give yourself a second chance in life first, before anyone could give you that second chance in life that you need !!!
In recovery, It works only if you work it !! Take that First Step towards recovery today !! The road of recovery is always under construction and it may not be completed in this life time !!
