Ex-hotel GM on molest trial

[General Veers]

Singapore
Mar 23, 2010

Ex-hotel GM on molest trial

<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
<!-- end by line -->
A FORMER general manager of a hotel went on trial on Monday for drugging a young woman and molesting her. Tan Hwa Kok, 44, then GM of Hotel Grand Central, is accused of causing the 23-year-old Malaysian woman to take Zolpidem, a prescription drug generally used to treat insomnia and brain injuries, before molesting her in a room at the Cavenagh Road hotel on Feb 5 last year. The victim's friend, a 24-year-old sales assistant, had earlier testified that she she was the one who helped her arrange a job interview with Tan.

She had gone back to Kuching for a holiday early last year when the alleged victim told her that she was interested in working in Singapore. The sales assistant testified that she met Tan while working in a hotel restuarant in 2008. They exchanged phone numbers and subsequently went on dates. She claimed that Tan had spiked her drink when they were having dinner at Long Beach in Dempsey Hill. When she woke up, she found herself in Tan's car. According to her, he told her that he had sex with her.

She was shocked. Asked by defence lawyer Edmond Pereira whether she objected to him having sex with her that night, she replied: 'How to object when he spiked my drink and I did not even know what went on?'' Counsel suggested to her that no such thing happened and in fact, she had consensual sex with him after dinner. Witness replied: 'Impossible.' But she admitted that she still went out with Tan after that and had sexual relation with him. The trial continues.

 

[General Veers]

Singapore
Mar 24, 2010

Ex-hotel GM on molest trial
He allegedly doped the Malaysian woman, 23, with strong sleeping pill

<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->

Tan is said to have molested the woman who went to his hotel for a job interview.

THE former general manager of Hotel Grand Central in Cavenagh Road is fighting accusations that he molested a young woman after slipping her Zolpidem, a powerful sleeping pill that can be prescribed only by doctors. Tan Hwa Kok, 44, who resigned from his job around the middle of last year, is said to have doped the 23-year-old Malaysian woman who had gone to his hotel to look for a job. He is accused of kissing her lips and licking her private parts in a hotel room at about 11.30am on Feb 5 last year. The woman's 24-year-old best friend, who has been on the stand since the hearing began on Monday, told the court earlier that her friend had stayed at the hotel for free for the job interview.

Some time before 2pm, the sales assistant got an SMS from her friend, asking her to go immediately to her hotel room. There, she found the younger woman looking pale and walking unsteadily, and Tan subsequently came out of the toilet. She told the court that her friend said Tan could have spiked the herbal tea he had bought her. Earlier in her evidence, she said she had first got to know Tan when she was working as a waitress in a restaurant that he patronised. They exchanged phone numbers and later dated.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.
[email protected]

 

[General Veers]

'Hotel boss offered me money'

Singapore
Mar 24, 2010

'Hotel boss offered me money'

<!-- by line --> <!-- end by line --> A MALAYSIAN woman told a district court on Wednesday that she rejected a stack of money from a hotel boss when she was in Singapore for a job interview. The attractive 24-year-old woman was testifying on Day 3 of the trial of Tan Hwa Kok, 44, who is accused of spiking her drink and molesting her in a room at Hotel Grand Central at Cavenagh Road on Feb 5 last year. The personal financial consultant from Kuching, Sarawak, claimed that Tan offered her the money on Feb 4 while she having ice cream with a friend. She had flown in the night before for the job interview. She left her friend for a while to meet him. 'He said he wanted to give me money.

He gave me a stack of notes. I have no idea how much money but I rejected his offer,' she said. She said she did not know why Tan wanted to give her money. It was her close friend, also a Malaysian, who had recommended her for the job interview as her friend knew Tan, who has since quit his job at the hotel. The alleged victim said Tan picked her up from the airport when she arrived on Feb 3. She felt uneasy and felt the same when he invited her out for supper and drinks after that. She went along as Tan had told her he wanted to talk about 'work-related' issues. After Newton, they adjourned to a pub at Clarke Quay where he ordered a lime vodka for her. She felt giddy after taking it and had noticed some white substance at the bottom of the drink. When she asked him, he assured her it was only like powder and even took a sip from the glass.
The trial continues.

 

[postnew]

The personal financial consultant from Kuching, Sarawak, claimed that Tan Hwa Kok (above) offered her the money on Feb 4 while she having ice cream with a friend.
-- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW​

 

[allanlee]

Re: 'Hotel boss offered me money'

For years many vice syndicates have been using the rooms at hotel GC for their activities....... then a new GM took over and made it difficult for these syndicates to operate....... he should have minded his own business and turned a blind eye........ look at the mess he got himself into.... :(

 

[Katana]

Spiked drink and cash offer

Mar 25, 2010

MOLESTATION CASE
Spiked drink and cash offer

<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->

Tan, 44, is accused by a financial consultant of molesting her in her hotel room on Feb 5 last year. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

<!-- story content : start --> SHE came to Singapore looking for a job but the first thing she received from her prospective employer was a proposition for dinner and drinks. The 24-year-old financial consultant felt uneasy but decided to go along as Tan Hwa Kok told her that he would like to talk about work, and she wanted to make a good impression. The 44-year-old former general manager of Hotel Grand Central stands accused of drugging her with Zolpidem, a sleeping pill, and molesting her on Feb 5 last year.

On the third day of his trial yesterday, the Malaysian woman broke down briefly while recounting her experience and was given a short break to compose herself. She told the court that she had flown to Singapore on the evening of Feb 3 last year and was taken to Newton Food Centre and Clarke Quay by Tan. She had been recommended for a job at the hotel by a friend who had had a 'fling' with Tan after meeting him at a restaurant where she worked. The woman said she had a vodka lime drink at a pub in Clarke Quay, which she suspected had been spiked because she felt giddy and noticed a white substance at the bottom of the glass.

 

[Katana]

SMSes, recording in court

Mar 25, 2010

SMSes, recording in court

<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->

Tan Hwa Kok, is alleged to have molested a 24-year-old woman. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

AN 11-MINUTE long voice recording taped by a woman who was allegedly molested by a hotel boss was played in court on Thursday. It was mostly in Mandarin with English words thrown in. The court also saw on screen seven messages that Tan Hwa Kok, then general manager of Hotel Grand Central, sent to the 24-year-old woman between 6.45pm and 8.45pm on Feb 5 after the alleged incident.

He admitted in the SMS to being intimate to her and that she said 'ok' when he asked her to be his girlfriend. But she texted him back and said there was no such conversation. The Malaysian financial consultant on Thursday told the court that if Tan had not spiked her drink, none of those things would have happened to her. When asked by the prosecutor whether she was more upset about the spiking or molestation, the woman who went to the hotel for a job interview said she was 'equally upset.'

Under questioning by Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Yim, she said: 'I felt that the licking and the kissing were the result of the spiking incident.' 'To me, the spiking incident led to the kissing and the licking incident. If he had not spiked my drink, none of these things would have happened to me.'
She was testifying at the trial of Tan who is accused of molesting her in a room at the Cavenagh Road hotel on Feb 5 last year. He is also accused of causing her to take Zolpidem, a sleeping tablet, with intent to molest her. Tan, whose family owns the Grand Central group, is now in real estate. The case continues.

 

[boundThunter]

Mar 25, 2010

SMSes, recording in court

<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->

He has a BIGhead but smallhead rules, ok ???

 

[Watchman]

What are the vices that prevail now ?

 

[Watchman]

Re: 'Hotel boss offered me money'

For years many vice syndicates have been using the rooms at hotel GC for their activities....... then a new GM took over and made it difficult for these syndicates to operate....... he should have minded his own business and turned a blind eye........ look at the mess he got himself into.... :(

What are the vices that prevail now ?

Any inter relation with dead woman at Sentosa and vices at HGC ?