Cult leader who forced followers to pull out own teeth and eat faeces jailed

A cult leader who forced her followers to eat faeces and used pliers to pull out their teeth as punishment has been jailed for more than 10 years in Singapore.

Woo May Hoe, 54, convinced about 30 people that she was a deity, while subjecting the group to cruel physical abuse and defrauding them of more than $10 million (£7.8 million).

In a rare case of cult crime in Singapore, prosecutors said she had instituted a “reign of terror” over eight years, convincing her followers to part with their money, which she claimed would be used to build temples in India.

Anyone who disobeyed Woo was brutally punished. In one instance, a woman was forced to jump from the second floor of a building and fractured both her ankles. In another, Woo made one follower extract another’s teeth with pliers.

The court also heard that Woo stabbed people with scissors, forced them to consume human faeces, and beat them with canes and paintbrushes. One woman suffered permanent optic nerve damage after being struck and denied medical care; Woo had insisted she just needed to use “holy water” to clean her eyes.

The abuse began in 2012. During long sessions, Woo convinced a group who believed in Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma – a spiritual leader in India – that she was a deity in communication with the gods.

‘Bad karma’

She forced them to call her “lord”, and told her followers that they had to clear their “bad karma” by making regular payments to Amma in India.

Many of the group were seeking healing for themselves or their relatives, so fervently followed the teachings, the court was told.

Woo, who insisted to her followers that they would be punished by gods if they lied to her about how much money they had, claimed the funds were going to be used to buy cows or build schools and temples.

She also made followers take out loans and buy her houses, apartments and cars as “a form of worship”. According to AFP, she defrauded the group of more than $10 million.

And she was not only in control of their finances. Channel News Asia reported that she sought to control every aspect of their lives, forcing them to report their movements and conversations. Some were forced to quit their jobs, about a third were told to move in with her to effectively act as her full-time servants.

If they tried to escape the group, Woo would harass them with a barrage of calls threatening their downfall.

Police reports

But the abuse was uncovered when a few followers lodged police reports against her in 2020, and she was arrested in October that year.

On Wednesday, she was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to five charges, including cheating and grievous hurt, while 45 others were taken into consideration.

“The accused’s actions have shattered the lives of her followers, leaving them in dire financial circumstances and causing permanent physical disability to some,” prosecutors said in their sentencing submission.

Health officials later found that Woo had paranoid schizophrenia at the time of her offences, according to Channel News Asia, but the court was told that she was aware of the illegal nature of her acts.