Man offered S$2 to s*x worker instead of agreed fee in repeat offence, gets jail

SINGAPORE: A repeat offender on remission for refusing to pay s*x workers after obtaining their services struck again, this time targeting an Australian woman who was in Singapore for a holiday.

The woman charged S$700 (US$512) per hour, but Abdul Rahman A Karim offered her only S$2 after the deed.

The 40-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to three years' jail and another 71 days' jail for breaching his remission order on Tuesday (Oct 31).

Abdul Rahman pleaded guilty to one charge of dishonestly obtaining services for himself when he never intended to pay the victim S$700 per hour for her sexual services.

The court heard that Abdul Rahman had previously been sentenced to 32 months' jail for the same charge with a similar modus operandi of inducing a s*x worker to provide him her services and then refusing to pay her.

While he was out on remission in November 2022 for this jail term, Abdul Rahman contacted his new victim, a 35-year-old Australian s*x worker.

The woman usually worked in Melbourne, and advertised her services and rates on a website. She charged S$700 an hour for her services, and S$750 an hour for "outcall situations", the court heard.

On Nov 14 last year, the victim entered Singapore alone for a holiday. She was due to return to Australia 10 days later, and stated on her website that she was "currently touring in Singapore".

At about 10am on Nov 23 last year, Abdul Rahman contacted the victim on WhatsApp, asking to engage her services.

The victim agreed and told him her rates. Abdul Rahman did not respond directly to the messages about her fees, but continued discussing the logistics of the meet-up.

They agreed for Abdul Rahman to head over to the room where the victim was staying.

After engaging in sexual activity, the victim sought payment of the S$700.

Abdul Rahman claimed they had not agreed on the rates and refused to pay her. Instead, he gave her a S$2 note.

The victim insisted on the full sum, but Abdul Rahman ignored her and left despite the victim's efforts to stop him.

The victim contacted the Australian High Commission and Project X -  a non-profit organisation for s*x workers - before making a police report.

Abdul Rahman deleted the victim's messages about her rates from his phone, giving the impression that they had never agreed on them.

However, the full conversation was retained in the victim's phone.

The prosecutor sought 38 to 40 months' jail for Abdul Rahman, pointing to the similarity to his previous conviction.

In both cases, the offender had not neglected to make payment in good faith, said the prosecutor.

"Rather, he had intentionally induced the provision of such sexual services without intending to pay the (s*x workers) at all," he said.

He said this shows Abdul Rahman's propensity for reoffending and asked for an increase from his previous sentence.