Vietnam releases Singaporean national arrested for locking girlfriend in hotel room

By Toan Dao August 31, 2016 | 03:39 pm PT

Eng Yong Kit at the court on August 31 in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by HCMC Law Newspaper

He went looking for his girlfriend in Saigon after she had broken up with him.

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Wednesday decided to free a Singaporean man who was taken into custody earlier this year for illegally detaining his Vietnamese girlfriend in a hotel room in District 3.

Eng Yong Kit, 41, was imprisoned for 5 months and 6 days but was released right at the court because he has already completed the sentence on Wednesday since his arrest.

On February 2, 2016, HCMC police responded to a report that Eng was keeping his 24-year-old girlfriend in a hotel room, and broke into the room when the man refused to release the woman after locking her for about 8 hours. He was arrested and charged with "illegally detaining a person against their will".

Eng told police that he knew the girl through the Internet and was in a relationship with her from June 2015. They lived together like husband and wife whenever the woman came to Singapore or Eng visited Vietnam. The Singaporean man knew clearly the woman worked as a prostitute.

The incident in February occurred when the man went to look for her in Ho Chi Minh City after she had decided to end the relationship and avoid Eng.

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