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Is this S'pore's most dysfunctional family

Eldest brother charged with murder, second brother is serial sex offender, youngest brother convicted of arson, stepfather in prison for drug abuse. -TNP

Amanda Yong



Wed, Dec 14, 2011

The New Paper

One brother, aged 21, is accused of murder, having allegedly been involved in a series of stabbings in the northern part of Singapore last year.

Another brother, 19, is a serial sex offender who has mild mental retardation.

And the third brother, 16, was a minor when he was convicted of arson.

But the story does not end with the brothers alone.

Their stepfather is also doing time for drug offences.

And, the rest of the family isn't doing too well either.

Indeed, as claimed by a lawyer in court recently, this family comes from the lowest strata of our society.

Details about the family were revealed when one of the brothers was sentenced to probation late last month.

Soh Wee Boon, 19, was given 18 months' split probation for one count of committing an obscene act in a public place.

He was convicted after earlier pleading guilty to the offence.

One of the terms of the probation order is that Soh has to reside at a hostel for 12 of the 18 months.

He also has to attend offence-specific treatment programmes to help him in his rehabilitation.

The court heard that he was walking home after supper at a coffee shop when he saw a 19-year-old girl and two of her friends at a void deck at Block 850, Woodlands Street 82, at around 1.30am on July 8 this year.

Exposed himself

He told the girl that he wanted to become a woman.

Then, he exposed himself and performed an obscene act on himself.

Next, he repeatedly asked the girl: "Can you help me?" The three girls fled and called the police.

In calling for probation for Soh, his lawyer Josephus Tan said that following a community court conference on his client's case, a court-appointed psychologist and social worker had agreed that Soh would benefit from the sexuality education programme conducted by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

The court heard that Soh had been arrested several times for similar offences.

The first was in October 2003 , when he was arrested for exposing himself to females on several occasions and was taken to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

He was only 11 then.

In August 2004, he was admitted into IMH after being arrested for asking some girls to take a photo of him in a skirt.

In November 2008, he again appeared at IMH after he molested a woman.

In 2009, the police referred him to IMH for an assessment after he asked some females about him becoming a girl.

Then in February last year, he was remanded at IMH for two weeks for two outrage of modesty charges.

He was later sentenced to a year's probation at a hostel for those offences.

During this time, he attended the sexuality education programme conducted by MCYS and was to have continued going for monthly sessions till the end of the year.

He was well behaved and due to be released from the hostel in August this year.

He was to have started a new job as a food stall helper the day after his release.

But he re-offended while on home leave.

Dr Lim Choon Guan, an IMH psychiatrist who saw Soh this July, said the teen had mild mental retardation and his developmental milestones were delayed.

Soh only started speaking after he turned two.

He went to a special school but dropped out in Secondary Two due to his family's financial difficulties.

He stayed home to take care of his half-sister and collected newspapers to make some money.

Over the years, he also took on temporary jobs at coffee shops and food courts.

Mr Tan told the court that Soh "comes from (possibly) the lowest strata of society." His family receives help from a family service centre but their financial situation remains dire.

Soh's stepfather, Ng Chee Yong, 42, is serving an eight-month jail term for drug consumption.

Ng married Soh's mother after she divorced his father in 2001.

In October last year, Soh's 21-year-old elder brother, a full-time national serviceman, was charged with the murder of a 32-year-old clerk.

Attacked

He is accused of murdering the permanent resident from Malaysia near Block 895C, Woodlands Drive 50, on Sept 22.

The mother of two had been celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with her family just before she was attacked.

She was on her way back to meet her family at a playground after dropping off her 11-year-old nephew at her sister's flat nearby.

She is survived by her husband, aged around 40, and a son and daughter, both of whom are in primary school.

The elder Soh also faces three charges of attempted murder for stabbing three other women in the northern part of Singapore.

The four stabbings allegedly took place over a span of eight months last year.

The first stabbing happened on Jan 29, just one day after his 20th birthday, when he allegedly knifed a woman at the void deck of an HDB block in Yishun.

Four days later, he allegedly tried to kill a female jogger with a knife along the Khatib Bongsu park connector.

Both incidents took place late at night.

A few months later, on May 26, he allegedly tried to murder another woman at the void deck of a HDB flat in Montreal Drive, off Sembawang Road.

The three victims were aged between 23 and 31.

With more than half of the family behind bars or under state supervision, Soh's 38-year-old mother is left to take care of his stepbrother and half-sister in their two-room rental flat in Woodlands.

The New Paper visited their flat thrice in the last two weeks, but nobody was home each time.

A neighbour said she had last seen the family less than a month ago.

Paint marks left by loan sharks who splashed paint on the family's front door about six months ago could still be seen.

"Even if they're home, they usually won't open the door because they're afraid of the ah longs (loan sharks)," said the neighbour.

For committing an obscene act in a public place, Soh could have been jailed three months and fined. Trouble in the family



The Soh brothers' stepfather, Ng Chee Yong, 42, is serving an eight-month jail term for drug consumption.

The Soh brothers' 17-year-old stepbrother, from their stepfather's first marriage, suffers from leukemia and is still receiving medical treatment.

Their seven-year-old half-sister, the offspring of their mother and stepfather, had her large intestines removed in a major operation when she was much younger.

The Soh brothers' biological father is said to be suffering from schizophrenia and depression.

Soh Wee Boon, 19, is on 18 months' probation for committing an obscene act in a public place in July this year.

It was his fifth offence since his first in 2003.

The 16-year-old who cannot be named is in a boys' home for committing arson.

The 21-year-old faces one charge of murder and three charges of attempted murder over a series of stabbings in the northern part of Singapore last year.



This article was first published in The New Paper.