A Singaporean Chinese-ethnic woman was on Wednesday sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison for brainwashing her “spiritual” followers and cheating them of SGD 7 million, telling them the money would be transferred to India to buy cows, build temples and schools.

Woo May Hoe, 54, pleaded guilty to five charges, including cheating and causing grievous hurt, with another 45 charges taken into consideration.

Over about eight years from 2012, Woo led a group of about 30 followers who believed in Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma, a spiritual leader in India.

Woo taught her followers that they had to clear their "bad karma" and increase their "good karma" to improve their health and taught them to do so by making payments to Amma in India, reported Channel News Asia.

The sari-clad Woo, as she appeared in one of the media pictures, convinced her followers to declare how much money they had, warning that they would be punished by the gods if they lied before persuading them to hand over the money to her.

She brainwashed her "spiritual" followers into believing she was a deity and subjected them to cruel punishments for disobedience, including being forced to eat faeces and having their teeth pulled out.

Woo convinced her followers during their regular and lengthy spiritual sessions that she was a deity who could communicate with gods and spirits, dictating that they call her "lord".

Woo also ordered her followers to buy houses, condominiums and cars as "a form of worship", which she used for herself.

In total, she cheated her followers of SGD 7 million between 2012 and 2020 directly. She cheated them into taking out another SGD 6.6 million in loans from financial institutions. She has since made restitution of SGD 675,000, the report said.

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