Woo May Hoe, a 54-year-old Singaporean woman, brainwashed her “spiritual” followers into believing she was a deity who could connect with gods and inflicted cruel punishments for disobedience on her followers.
She was sentenced to jail last week after she pleaded guilty to five charges including cheating and causing grievous hurt, Channel NewsAsia said in a report. She was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison.
Woo May Hoe, led a group of about 30 followers who believed in Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma, an Indian spiritual leader. She forced her followers to eat faeces and had their teeth pulled out, the report said.
She led the group for about eight years since 2012 and convinced them during her so-called spiritual sessions that she could communicate with gods and spirits and told them to call her their ‘lord’.
Her followers came to her to heal themselves or their relatives, prosecutors told the court. To improve their health, Woo told her followers they needed to clear their “bad karma” and build “good karma” by sending money to Amma in India.
She then forced her followers to declare how much money they had and then persuaded them to hand over their money by warning them that they would be punished by the gods if they lied.
Woo claimed she would gather the donations and send them to India for projects like buying cows and building temples and schools. She also directed her followers to purchase properties and vehicles as a form of worship, which she used for her own benefit. Between 2012 and 2020, she stole S$7 million (US$5.2 million) from her followers and manipulated them into taking out S$6.6 million in loans. She has repaid S$675,000 of the stolen amount, Channel NewsAsia said in its report.
Pulled Out Teeth With Pliers
Woo told almost ten of her followers to move in with her and serve her on a full-time basis. She forced them to move in with her and serve her on by buying her groceries, cooking for her, cleaning her house and driving her around.
Some followers were instructed to quit their jobs, and all had to report their daily activities and communications to Woo.
Disobedience was met with violent and degrading punishments.
These included being hit with canes or paint brushes, stabbed with scissors, having their teeth pulled out with pliers, being forced to eat human faeces, and being made to jump from the second floor of a building, Channel NewsAsia said in its report.
One follower damaged her eyesight after Woo hurt her eye while lashing her with canes. If a follower tried to leave the group, Woo would harass them with numerous calls and threats, causing them to return out of fear and face severe punishment.
The victim whose eyesight was damaged was a 43-year-old Singaporean woman. When she told Woo about the pain, the latter gave her some “holy water” to wash her eyes and to drink the liquid and ordered her to stare directly at the sun.
The woman obeyed Woo’s instructions, but her vision deteriorated over time. Woo forbade her from seeking medical attention, and when she finally did, she lied to the doctor, claiming the injury was from a fall. She will need lifelong follow-ups for possible glaucoma or optic nerve damage, and her vision in the injured eye is likely to remain worse than in the other eye, the Channel NewsAsia report said.
Another victim was forced to jump down from the second floor of the building after Woo found out that she borrowed money from someone without telling her.
Arrest
In mid-2020, a few followers lodged police reports against Woo, alleging extensive physical abuse, loss of life savings, and unmanageable bank loans due to her actions.
Woo was arrested in October 2020.
The Institute of Mental Health in Singapore assessed Woo and found her to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of her offences, which contributed to her actions. However, she was deemed aware of the illegality of her acts. Her acts of cheating were deliberate and within her control.
The prosecution sought nine to 12 years of jail time for Woo, arguing that she instituted “a reign of terror” over her followers, exploiting their “exceptional faith and trust” to drain them of their life savings. She manipulated them into selling their properties, terminating their insurance policies, and taking on extensive loans they could not afford.
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