Updated: 08/02/2013 14:47 | By Channel NewsAsia
Loanshark runner gets 70 months' jail, 24 strokes, $60,000 fine
SINGAPORE: A loanshark runner, who committed over 100 harassment offences in a month, was sentenced to 70 months' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.
Rinto Abd Rahim, 28, was also fined S$60,000 in a district court on Friday.
In sentencing, District Judge Lee Poh Choo said it was one of the "most horrific" cases of harassment she had come across.
Rinto had initially borrowed money from licensed moneylenders to finance his lifestyle needs, so that he could buy new mobile phones and clothes, as well as eat at fancy places.
Later, he began taking loans from unlicensed moneylenders in order to service the initial loans.
When his debt began snowballing, Rinto quit his job as a warehouse assistant in April this year and began working as a runner for 10 unlicensed moneylenders.
These unlicensed moneylenders would provide him addresses via text message, and specify the type of harassment Rinto was to carry out for each subject.
The court heard that between April and May this year, Rinto harassed between five and nine subjects each day.
He would carry out acts such as soaking newspapers in lighter fluid and placing them at the gate of a unit before setting the newspapers alight, locking the gates with a bicycle lock and splashing paint on the door.
These took place at various locations across Singapore.
After committing the acts, Rinto would take pictures of what he had done, and email them to the various unlicensed moneylenders he worked for, who would then pay him various amounts for these acts of harassment.
The court also heard that Rinto had opened bank accounts for these unlicensed moneylenders and handed over these accounts to them.
In meting out the sentence, Judge Lee said Rinto had no regard for the safety of the occupants of the flat, as well as the damage he caused.
She also noted that some of the victims were innocent, being neighbours of the debtors.
The judge backdated Rinto's sentence to May 16 this year, when he was first remanded. - CNA/xq
24 strokes sure nua
