Former cop jailed 19 months for having sex with prostitutes without saying he had HIV

SINGAPORE — He rented out his Geylang condominium unit to three sex workers, but the former police officer did not tell them that he had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) when he sought sex from them.

In one instance, when one of the sex workers said she was not willing to sleep with him, he told her he was a policeman when he was really a security officer.

He would “cause trouble” for her, he added, leading her to think she would be sent back to China. She then agreed to have sex with him while insisting that he wear a condom.

On Friday (July 26), the man was sentenced to one year and seven months’ jail, as well as a fine of S$2,500. The man and his victims, who ultimately did not contract HIV, cannot be named due to a court gag order.

The 52-year-old had pleaded guilty to four charges in February, on what was meant to be the first day of his trial — but then he changed his plea.

Two of the charges fell under the Infectious Diseases Act, while the other two were under the Women’s Charter for using the apartment as a brothel and living off the earnings of a prostitute.

Seven other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

His lawyer, Mr Chu Hua Yi, asked for his client to begin serving his sentence in three weeks. Mr Chu said that the man’s father is suffering from terminal cancer, and as his sister is back in Singapore, “it might well be their last chance at a family reunion”.

District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam ordered the man to surrender at the State Courts on Aug 16 to begin his jail term. He remains out on bail of S$20,000.

‘NOT A LOVE NEST’

The court previously heard that he rented his unit in January 2017 for S$1,700 a month. He had intended to live there with his partner but she disappeared shortly after, leaving him high and dry.

At that point, he advertised the unit for rental at S$80 a day on a chat group on messaging application WeChat. The group’s participants were mainly sex workers.

On June 19 that year, a 31-year-old sex worker contacted him to rent the unit, which she intended to use to provide sexual services.

They met the following day to discuss the lease, but then he asked her to have sex with him.

She refused, but then relented after he threatened to "cause trouble" for her.

She moved in on June 22 after paying the man S$800, which she had earned from providing sexual services at other spots in Geylang.

But they had an argument when he suspected that she had allowed her partner to stay over at the unit.

Furious, he told her that it was a “work room, not a love nest”, and raised her rental fees to S$100 a day.

A day later, he ordered her to move out and threatened to call the police if she refused. He returned S$600 to her.

The man similarly leased the unit to two other Chinese nationals aged 31 and 37 then, and had sex with them without telling them about his HIV status. They used the apartment to provide sexual services in June and July 2017, after the first victim moved out.

Investigations revealed that during the period of his offences, the HIV virus cannot be detected in his blood. He was consistently obtaining prescriptions and getting his medication.

Under the Infectious Diseases Act, it is an offence for someone not to inform their sexual partners of their HIV status. The man’s medical social worker had told him to do so and obtain their consent before having sex with them.

For that, he could have been fined up to S$50,000 and jailed for up to 10 years for each charge.

For running a brothel at his rental unit, he could have been jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$3,000.

He could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to S$10,000 for living off the earnings of a prostitute.