A woman was given a jail sentence on Wednesday ( Jun 19 ) for brainwashing her” spiritual” followers into believing she was a deity and forbid them from receiving cruel punishment for disobedience, including being forced to eat faeces and having their teeth pulled out.
Woo May Hoe, a 54- yr- ancient Singaporean, was sentenced to 10- and- a- quarter years in prison after pleading innocent to five charges including cheating and causing severe harm, with another 45 charges taken into consideration.
Woo led a group of about 30 enthusiasts who practiced spirituality in India for about eight years starting in 2012.
Woo’s followers were told by their ordinary, protracted religious gatherings that she was a deity who could communicate with deities and spirits, and that they should call her “lord.”
Many of her followers, the court heard, sought healing for themselves or their families, and passionately followed Woo’s teachings as a result.
Woo instructed her followers to clear their “bad karma” and increase their” good karma” to improve their health, and they did so by giving money to Amma in India.
Before persuading them to hand over the funds to her, she persuaded her followers to consider how much money they had and warn that the angels would punish them if they lied.
She claimed that she would combine the funds and move them to India, where they could be used to purchase cows and construct churches and educational institutions there.
Woo likewise ordered her fans to buy homes, apartments and vehicles as” a form of worship”, which she used for herself.  ,
In total, she cheated her followers of S$ 7 million ( US$ 5.2 million ) between 2012 and 2020 directly. She deceived them into obtaining additional S$ 6.6 million in funding from economic organizations. She has since made reparation of S$ 675, 000.
PUNISHMENTS
Woo controlled her fans, directing a third of them to walk in with her, live with her, cook for her, clean her home, and drive her about.
Some of them received a command to leave their jobs, while others were required to report to her about their daily routines and connections.
If Woo’s fans totally disobeyed her, she would punish them with a number of violent and humiliating punishments.
These include using tweezers to extract their gums, forcing them to take people faeces, and forcing them to leap from the second floor of a tower. They also include hitting them with bundles of canes or paintbrushes.
The sanctions, which were exacted by Woo herself or carried out by instructed fans, resulted in continuous wounds for some fans. Among these were a caned vision injury and the loss of many teeth.
Woo would call a group’s followers and harm their demise if they attempted to leave. The feared disciple would then be subject to severe abuse when they left the group.
A few fans of her only reported to police in the middle of 2020, alleging that they had been repeatedly abused literally, had lost their life savings, and had taken numerous bank loans they were unable to pay back.
Woo was detained in 2020’s October. On Wednesday, she was led by a court-appointed attorney from her home with little hair and a white sweater and a blue mask.
One of her close friends or relatives who was present at the courtroom reading claimed that she had lost weight.
The Institute of Mental Health assessed her and determined that she had paranoid dementia at the time of her crimes, which had a significant impact on the crimes.
Yet, she was found to be cognisant of the offence of all her works.
Her stealing was discovered to be intentional and her own.
Woo’s supporters were accused of starting” a reign of terror” over her supporters and of abusing their “exceptional faith and trust” in her, who the trial claimed had demanded nine to twelve years in prison.
She even manipulated them into buying expensive debts that they could not afford, terminating their insurance policies, and selling their homes.
Defence attorney Caryn Lee from IRB Law sought 69 months ‘ prison otherwise, pointing to how her employer’s mental state had interfered with her wondering, emotions and behavior.
Deputy Principal District Judge Ong Chin Rhu , pointed to the hurt Woo caused to her supporters and the” lock” she had over their money. If not for Woo’s psychological condition, she claimed there would have been” significantly higher enhances” for the starting sentences for the causing harm costs.