She worked every day & customers gave her big tips
Prostitute found dead in Serangoon Road shophouse was friendly and popular
By Elysa Chen
October 28, 2008 Print Ready Email Article
SHE called herself Coco, and was one of the more popular prostitutes at Flanders Square, a small alley near Serangoon Road.
Click to see larger image
MOURNED: Yesterday, paper money and food offerings were seen outside the unit where Coco was attacked. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO
Many of the 41-year-old Chinese woman's clients, it is said, liked to bet on football, and they sometimes tipped her up to $100, though she charged much less.
Coco was hardworking - she didn't take holidays and would be on the job from noon to 9pm, seven days a week.
The Malaysian would drive all the way here from Johor Baru every day in a Proton Wira, and drive herself home at the end of the day.
Sometimes, she would also drive her colleagues to Geylang for supper.
Coco, who spoke Cantonese well, was 1.7m tall and had shoulder-length hair. She charged each customer $30.
The alley in which she plied her trade was a squalid, dingy place that reeked of urine.
But she had seen better days.
One customer who knew her well described how Coco had formerly worked in Chinatown and earned $4,000 a month. This had dropped to around $3,000 in recent years.
Click to see larger image
Screamed
On Saturday, at about 7.15pm, Coco's life came to a sudden and very violent end.
There was a scream, and eyewitnesses said they saw her staggering out of one of the shophouses in Flanders Square, bleeding.
One eyewitness, who was in the room next to Coco's, told Lianhe Wanbao: 'I saw Coco struggling to run out. She was covered in blood.
'The scariest thing was that there was a knife sticking out of her chest.'
He described how Coco, who was dressed in a yellow mini-skirt, had taken a few steps before collapsing.
Said the eyewitnesses: 'When I saw her, she took two steps towards me, then pulled the knife out, before collapsing and dying.'
There appeared to have been a struggle, and her teeth had been knocked out.
Coco died before the ambulance could arrive.
One regular customer who wanted to be known only as Mr Pan, told The New Paper that he heard on the radio that a prostitute had been murdered on Saturday night.
Click to see larger image
Women seen leaving the unit.
He went down to the alley yesterday evening, and found out that the victim was Coco.
'I was shocked when I heard the news. It doesn't feel good. I miss her,' said Mr Pan.
Several of her colleagues were so badly affected by Coco's death that they shouted at The New Paper team when we went down to Flanders Square in a bid to find out more about her last night.
One of them, clad in a pink tank top, said: 'Why can't you leave her alone? Won't you respect the dead?'
Around 6.45pm, a few of them in their 20s and 30s hurriedly left the unit, covering their faces, as the unit where Coco worked was closed for business.
But at other units in the building, it seemed to be business as usual, with a steady stream of men who looked like customers entering and leaving from the back doors.
Earlier, a middle-aged Chinese man and woman were seen offering fruits and incense at a small altar outside a room that was cordoned off with tape.
There was a pile of paper money and food offerings outside unit 22, where Coco was attacked, at 7pm yesterday.
An elderly man who worked next to the unit that Coco worked in, said she was a friendly woman.
The man, who gave his name as Mr Lin Ya Fu, said in Mandarin: 'She was very friendly.
Click to see larger image
'Whenever she walked by, she would always say hello.'
However, he could not provide details on what happened the day before as he was not working that day.
Mr Lin was also unable to provide more details on Coco's family background.
But reports in Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min Daily News said Coco was getting a divorce, and that she had grown-up children.
A report in Shin Min also described her as a filial daughter who would pack food home for her mother.
An unidentified man had gone to the morgue at 9am yesterday to identify the body.
He had also gone to Flanders Square at 11am to drive away Coco's car, in which a pair of her black heels was spotted by reporters earlier.
Lianhe Wanbao also reported that around noon yesterday, close to 100 prostitutes were summoned to the police station for investigations.
Police are investigating the murder, and have identified a suspect.
They are looking for a dark-skinned man, between 1.6m and 1.7m in height.
They are appealing to anyone with information to call the police hotline at 1800-225000
Prostitute found dead in Serangoon Road shophouse was friendly and popular
By Elysa Chen
October 28, 2008 Print Ready Email Article
SHE called herself Coco, and was one of the more popular prostitutes at Flanders Square, a small alley near Serangoon Road.
Click to see larger image
MOURNED: Yesterday, paper money and food offerings were seen outside the unit where Coco was attacked. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO
Many of the 41-year-old Chinese woman's clients, it is said, liked to bet on football, and they sometimes tipped her up to $100, though she charged much less.
Coco was hardworking - she didn't take holidays and would be on the job from noon to 9pm, seven days a week.
The Malaysian would drive all the way here from Johor Baru every day in a Proton Wira, and drive herself home at the end of the day.
Sometimes, she would also drive her colleagues to Geylang for supper.
Coco, who spoke Cantonese well, was 1.7m tall and had shoulder-length hair. She charged each customer $30.
The alley in which she plied her trade was a squalid, dingy place that reeked of urine.
But she had seen better days.
One customer who knew her well described how Coco had formerly worked in Chinatown and earned $4,000 a month. This had dropped to around $3,000 in recent years.
Click to see larger image
Screamed
On Saturday, at about 7.15pm, Coco's life came to a sudden and very violent end.
There was a scream, and eyewitnesses said they saw her staggering out of one of the shophouses in Flanders Square, bleeding.
One eyewitness, who was in the room next to Coco's, told Lianhe Wanbao: 'I saw Coco struggling to run out. She was covered in blood.
'The scariest thing was that there was a knife sticking out of her chest.'
He described how Coco, who was dressed in a yellow mini-skirt, had taken a few steps before collapsing.
Said the eyewitnesses: 'When I saw her, she took two steps towards me, then pulled the knife out, before collapsing and dying.'
There appeared to have been a struggle, and her teeth had been knocked out.
Coco died before the ambulance could arrive.
One regular customer who wanted to be known only as Mr Pan, told The New Paper that he heard on the radio that a prostitute had been murdered on Saturday night.
Click to see larger image
Women seen leaving the unit.
He went down to the alley yesterday evening, and found out that the victim was Coco.
'I was shocked when I heard the news. It doesn't feel good. I miss her,' said Mr Pan.
Several of her colleagues were so badly affected by Coco's death that they shouted at The New Paper team when we went down to Flanders Square in a bid to find out more about her last night.
One of them, clad in a pink tank top, said: 'Why can't you leave her alone? Won't you respect the dead?'
Around 6.45pm, a few of them in their 20s and 30s hurriedly left the unit, covering their faces, as the unit where Coco worked was closed for business.
But at other units in the building, it seemed to be business as usual, with a steady stream of men who looked like customers entering and leaving from the back doors.
Earlier, a middle-aged Chinese man and woman were seen offering fruits and incense at a small altar outside a room that was cordoned off with tape.
There was a pile of paper money and food offerings outside unit 22, where Coco was attacked, at 7pm yesterday.
An elderly man who worked next to the unit that Coco worked in, said she was a friendly woman.
The man, who gave his name as Mr Lin Ya Fu, said in Mandarin: 'She was very friendly.
Click to see larger image
'Whenever she walked by, she would always say hello.'
However, he could not provide details on what happened the day before as he was not working that day.
Mr Lin was also unable to provide more details on Coco's family background.
But reports in Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min Daily News said Coco was getting a divorce, and that she had grown-up children.
A report in Shin Min also described her as a filial daughter who would pack food home for her mother.
An unidentified man had gone to the morgue at 9am yesterday to identify the body.
He had also gone to Flanders Square at 11am to drive away Coco's car, in which a pair of her black heels was spotted by reporters earlier.
Lianhe Wanbao also reported that around noon yesterday, close to 100 prostitutes were summoned to the police station for investigations.
Police are investigating the murder, and have identified a suspect.
They are looking for a dark-skinned man, between 1.6m and 1.7m in height.
They are appealing to anyone with information to call the police hotline at 1800-225000
