Repeat offender cheated multiple victims in renovation scam
A man who was released from prison around August 2015 after serving a jail term for cheating returned to a life of crime later that year by duping multiple victims in a renovation scam.
Between September 2015 and March 2016, Salahudin Mohd Rasip committed criminal breach of trust and cheating involving $34,938 in total.
The 54-year-old was on Tuesday (April 19) sentenced to a year and nine months' jail after he pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating linked to $28,670.
These charges involved three victims.
Five other charges, including those linked to two more victims, were considered during sentencing. These five charges also involved the remaining amount.
Salahudin has made no restitution.
The court heard that he was convicted of cheating in 2013 and sentenced to two years and eight months' jail. He was released in 2015 and went back to his old ways soon after.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Ong said: "As seen from the multiple victims cheated, the accused had no qualms cheating unsuspecting home owners to enter into home renovation contracts which he had no intention of fulfilling and completing."
Salahudin was working as a renovation contractor-cum-designer consultant at a firm called King's Home in Joo Chiat Road when he met a 55-year-old man on Sept 7, 2015.
He promised the victim that he would be able to complete renovation works at the man's Simei flat within specified deadlines.
The works included hacking services and installation of cabinets and tiles.
Salahudin quoted a sum of $18,500, and the man handed over $9,500 in cash as "deposit".
The DPP said: "Incomplete renovation works were done to the victim's home. Within a span of between two and five weeks after Sept 28, 2015, three different subcontractors hacked and removed a kitchen cabinet, the kitchen toilet and the kitchen toilet bowl, and left the incident location unattended. Thereafter, the accused became uncontactable."
Salahudin was at King's Home when he met a 65-year-old man, and used a similar method to cheat him of $6,500 later that year.
Salahudin was working as an interior designer-cum-renovation contractor at a firm called Arkitektik Works when he met a 33-year-old man in December 2015.
Assured that the man's Keat Hong Close home would be renovated within the deadlines, the victim handed over a cheque for $12,670.
The prosecutor told the court: "No renovation works were done... When the victim grew anxious as their intended deadline for the completion of renovation works loomed, and contacted the accused, the accused would claim that further payments were necessary even though no work was done."
The victim made a police report on March 18, 2016.
On Tuesday, Salahudin's bail was set at $15,000 and he was told to surrender at the State Courts on May 10 to begin serving his sentence.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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