A year-old Sri Lankan, whose family was having financial woes, was recruited by her neighbours to work in Singapore as a prostitute. Over 12 days, she serviced men in a brothel at 20 Jalan Suka in Geylang. But she was arrested on the night of Aug 6 last year, after policemen saw her soliciting for customers in the area. She had yet to receive any earnings from her prostitution.
Yesterday, a year-old man who ran the brothel was jailed for three months. Goh Tiang Ho pleaded guilty to one charge of managing a brothel. A year-old Bangladeshi national, Sahadat - who goes by one name - was also jailed for three months for helping to manage the brothel. A District Court heard that the teen, who cannot be named due to an order by the court, lived with her father and grandmother in Sri Lanka.
In May , her family was in financial difficulty as her grandmother was suffering from stomach cancer and her father was unable to work because of high blood pressure and asthma. Her recruiters made arrangements for the victim to travel to Singapore. One of the men who picked her up, Hathamune Liyanage Pushpa Surange, 29, had arrived in Singapore on the same day on a social visit pass. The other man's identity has not been established.
Hathamune, also known as Ranga, left Singapore on Aug 6 last year and is wanted by the police. He is suspected to be a member of a vice syndicate. We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. But a log-in is still required for our PDFs. Skip to main content. A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 07, , with the headline 'Sri Lankan teen lured here to be prostitute'.
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