Loansharks Who Harass Innocent Parties Should Get Longer Jail Term: Judge

therat · August 21, 2013

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/loansharks-who-harass/784558.html

Loansharks and their runners who "knowingly harass innocent persons", such as debtors' neighbours, ought to be jailed two to three months longer than the current benchmark sentence of 12 months, said a High Court judge in a judgment released on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE: Loansharks and their runners who "knowingly harass innocent persons", such as debtors' neighbours, ought to be jailed two to three months longer than the current benchmark sentence of 12 months, said a High Court judge in a judgment released on Tuesday.

This is because these offenders should not be allowed to treat innocent parties as "mere collateral damage in their unrelenting quest to make debtors pay up", added Justice Tay Yong Kwang.

The judge's pronouncement came amid a crackdown in recent years - including an enhancement to the Moneylenders Act in 2010, which toughened penalties for harassment to include mandatory jail and possible caning - on the loansharking scourge that has dogged the Republic since 2005.

Last year, the police received slightly under 9,000 reports of loanshark harassment, down from 11,776 in 2011 and 15,525 in 2010.

In allowing the prosecution's appeal against loanshark runner Quek Li Hao's sentence, Justice Tay said it was an aggravating factor, in his view, when innocent persons are deliberately targeted and harassed.

Quek, 38, had been sentenced to 14 months in jail and 12 strokes of the cane, and fined S$30,000 for four charges of harassment that damaged property. Seven other similar harassment charges against him were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.

According to court documents, Quek had been recruited in July last year by an unlicensed moneylender to splash paint at borrowers' flats and scrawl "O$P$" at staircase walls to pay off the loans he had taken.

Earlier in May, he also agreed to open a bank account for another loanshark he had borrowed from. On Aug 21 last year, he was arrested after a member of the public saw him scrawling on a wall.

Quek, who was unrepresented, said he was "remorseful" during the appeal and asked that the court maintain his sentence because he had aged and sickly parents to care for.

In upping Quek's total jail term by 10 months to 24 months, Justice Tay pointed out that the Parliament's intention, in prescribing mandatory imprisonment and even caning for first-time offenders, was "clearly to strongly deter the commission of loanshark offences".

Although the district judge had placed Quek in the category of offenders "deserving of compassion" - he claimed to be in genuine financial need as he had to pay for his parents' hospitalisation bills, and was plunged into debt because he was guarantor for a debtor who ran off -

Justice Tay noted that Quek was still holding a regular job when he became a runner.

The judge added: "Innocent parties should not be made to suffer the anxiety, frustration and helplessness caused by such acts of harassment. Such indiscriminate acts disturb the peace of mind and sense of well-being of the community by enlarging the area of conflict."

-TODAY