Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
April 16, 2025
A part-time donation collector received around $45,000 from his late adoptive father’s estate, but ended up in debt after patronising a nightspot about four times a week.
Yong Chun Hong, who spent around $1,000 on each visit, took loans from unlicensed moneylenders and asked his elderly adoptive mother to sell her home to raise money for his financial woes.
They quarrelled after the 78-year-old woman said she could not help him. Yong then forcefully pressed a pillow on her face, but she managed to push it away.
On April 16, the 36-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to four years and two months’ jail. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of performing an act that endangered human life, knowing it could have killed the victim.
He could have been jailed for up to 14 years and fined.
Yong was initially accused of attempting to murder his adoptive mother – a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and caning. Alternatively, an offender convicted of the charge can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned, or both.
Court documents did not disclose the reasons behind the reduced charge.
Deputy public prosecutors Eunice Chew and Shaun Lim stated in court documents that Yong was adopted in 1991 when he was two years old.
He received around $45,000 from his adoptive father’s estate after the latter died on Aug 15, 2023.
In the following month, Yong started patronising a nightspot called Club Axis and gave large tips of up to $1,000 to a performing artiste there known as “Baby”.
He also spent money on the woman by “hanging flowers” on her – a practice at certain nightspots where patrons present items such as garlands to artistes, with each garland often bearing a price tag.
Club Axis allowed Yong to “hang flowers” on credit and by Dec 20, 2023, he owed the nightspot $30,000 – a sum that he could not repay.
The DPPs said: “When Club Axis demanded that the accused repay his debt, the accused turned to the victim for help.
“The victim turned to friends and relatives for loans, but they were unwilling to assist when they knew that the loan was actually meant for the accused.”
Yong later managed to borrow $4,500 from unlicensed moneylenders and gave them the victim’s particulars as his guarantor without her permission.
The woman became upset when she found out what he had done, and they quarrelled over his financial situation.
Yong became increasingly desperate as his debts snowballed and asked his adoptive mother if she could sell her Serangoon flat to raise money.
The prosecutors added: “The accused begged the victim daily to help him out of his debts… She told the accused that she had no more money and could not help him.”
Yong then started to have thoughts that he would be the sole beneficiary of the victim’s estate if she were to die.
From Jan 4, 2024, he made various internet searches related to certain medications, overdosing and death.
About 10 days later, the pair quarrelled again over his debts, after which the victim went to bed.
Yong followed her into the bedroom. While she was lying on her bed, he pressed down on her ribcage while saying that she “should sleep and die”.
He left the room soon after.
When they quarrelled again on Jan 16, 2024, Yong made a similar comment to his adoptive mother, upsetting her.
She retorted by saying that she should be strangled and even spoke of suicide.
The DPPs said that she had uttered such words out of stress, frustration and disappointment. They added that she had not harboured the intention to die or kill herself.
Later that evening, the victim was about to doze off when Yong forcefully pressed a pillow on her face.
She managed to push it away and a tearful Yong begged for forgiveness when he realised his mistake.
Fearful for her own safety, the victim did not dare to sleep for the rest of the night.
When she went to a polyclinic on Jan 18 that year to obtain her prescription for an undisclosed condition, she told a doctor about the incident. The police were alerted and Yong was arrested four days later.
On April 16, defence lawyer Ashwin Ganapathy pleaded for the court to sentence his client to three years and two months’ jail.
He also said the victim had forgiven Yong and his offence was not premeditated.
The victim was in the gallery during the proceedings. Her voice was choked with emotion when she later told reporters outside the courtroom: “I hope (my son) will change when he’s released.”
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