A HONG KONG man was sentenced to five years in jail in a first-instance ruling in Shenzhen for defrauding a Singaporean woman of about 1 million yuan (US$153,000) after he promised to marry her.
The man identified as Lin, 46, had also been fined 60,000 yuan by the Futian District People s Court. But the woman, Xie, and her parents appealed to Shenzhen Intermediate People s Court, saying the sentence was too light because it was based on 139,000 yuan Lin borrowed from Xie s parents in Shenzhen.
Xie, who emigrated to Singapore 12 years ago, posted an ad seeking marriage in a Hong Kong newspaper in March 2008. Lin, who was married at the time, struck up a friendship with Xie and was accepted by her parents. They then lived together in Singapore.
In October 2008, Lin borrowed about 820,000 yuan from Xie to conduct business and promised to give Xie pocket money each month. In November 2008, he borrowed another 139,000 yuan from Xie s parents in Shenzhen.
Lin lost the money gambling and then disappeared.
Police arrested him in February 2010 at a checkpoint in Shenzhen after Xie reported to police.
He admitted he had failed to repay the debt but denied fraud. The Futian court sentenced him to five years for defrauding Xie of 139,000 yuan but Futian prosecutors objected saying the court had jurisdiction over crimes committed overseas by a Chinese national. Lin was a mainland resident although he had the right of abode in Hong Kong when he borrowed the 820,000 yuan from Xie in Singapore.
The prosecutor s office sought a sentence of at least 10 years.
The court has yet to hand down a decision. (Tina Chen)
