SINGAPORE: A purported Singaporean spiritual leader was recently sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail after deceiving her followers into handing her more than S$7 million (RM24 million).
The Straits Times and CNA reported that 54-year-old Woo May Hoe pleaded guilty to five charges, with another 45 considered for actions conducted between 2012 and 2020.
Woo is reported to have taught her 30 or so followers to improve their karma by making payments to a spiritual leader, from which she personally profited.
It was reported that she ordered these followers to buy houses, condominiums, and cars as a form of “worship” that she used for herself.
Some reportedly quit their jobs to serve and assist Woo in buying groceries, cleaning her house, driving her around, and cooking meals while reporting their daily activities to her.
Disobedience was met with physical violence, including “stabbing them with scissors, using pliers to pull out their teeth, forcing them to consume human faeces and making them jump from a height”.
Singapore Institute of Mental Health found Woo to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of her offences.
However, an Institute of Mental Health doctor found no contributory link between Woo’s mental state and her cheating offences.
