Chinese man jailed for pimping Zhuhai teen in Singapore
Chinese man jailed for six years for forcing 17-year-old compatriot to work as a prostitute
A Singapore court on Thursday sentenced a Chinese pimp to six years in prison for forcing an underage compatriot to work as a prostitute under abusive conditions in the city-state.
Tang Huisheng, 37, had pleaded guilty to multiple charges after bringing the 17-year-old girl from China’s southern city of Zhuhai in May and living off her earnings as a sex worker.
Prostitution is legal in Singapore but pimping is banned and any man who pays for sex with a woman below 18 can be jailed or fined. A total of 24 men, including five Chinese nationals, have been charged after paying for the girl’s services.
District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said Tang’s “depravity, callousness and outright cruelty” were viewed with “abhorrence”.
“He subjected the minor to extreme sexual, physical and mental abuses,” he said, noting that the girl was forced to service a “mind-numbing” average of 10 clients a day over a 15-day period.
“This to me is very unfair!” Tang yelled in Mandarin, as he was led away by prison guards.
According to court documents, Tang took away all of her earnings and lost heavily at a casino in Singapore.
Before arriving in Singapore, Tang had drugged the girl with methamphetamine and forced her to have sex with him multiple times, according to the documents.
She had initially gone to him looking for a gaming industry job in Macau, which borders Zhuhai.
The Straits Times newspaper said 17 men who paid for her services have been jailed so far.
The case follows another underage prostitution scandal in Singapore.
Last year 51 local and foreign men including a Swiss ex-banker, Singaporean civil servants and uniformed officers were charged with having sex with a 17-year-old call girl in 2010 and 2011. Most have served jail terms.