SINGAPORE, Sept 9 — Pressing for a deterrent sentence of 10 to 12 years' jail for his two criminal breach of trust charges, the prosecution charged that former tour guide Yang Yin's offences were "extensively planned and premeditated", and he had come up with "numerous cunning deceptions" to avoid detection.

Yang was back in court this morning after pleading guilty last month to two charges of criminal breach of trust for misappropriating S$1.1 million (RM3.30 million) from elderly widow Chung Khin Chun.

Mitigation will be heard later in the afternoon, with sentencing given at a later date.

Yang will next appear in court on September 21.

The prosecution, led by deputy public prosecutor Sanjeev Vaswani. said: “The lies and cover-ups pursued by the accused at length, years after the actual act of misappropriation was executed, demonstrates the depth of his commitment to deceit and fraud.”

For instance, in February 2010, Yang had come up with a "convincing backstory" for Chung to purchase a fake painting from his friend so that the 89-year-old would remit S$500,000 to China.

Yang did so as he wanted to avoid the red flags which would be raised if he — as one who was unemployed and had no source of income in Singapore — were to remit such a large sum from his bank account.

When investigations were launched against him, Yang falsified receipts and lied to the authorities — aggravating factors that justify a higher sentence, said the prosecution.

DPP Sanjeev also called out Yang's "flippant" conduct at trial — where he vacillated between decisions to plead guilty and dispute the charges, and made several unusual requests which had to be turned down, such as to "change the DPP" and speak to the Deputy Presiding Judge — as a "total lack of respect for the judicial process".

"It is clear that the acquittal was willing to do whatever was expedient to secure his acquittal," DPP Sanjeev said.

Seeking a sentence of less than three years, defence lawyer Irving Choh said Yang was "misguided" by attempts to pay off the family debts he was saddled with.

Yang is not the "emotionally manipulative" person the prosecution paints him to be, said Choh.

He had taken care of Chung while he was in Singapore, and they shared a "warm relationship" like that between a grandmother and grandson, added the lawyer.

"His desire to pay off his family debts got the better of him and landed him in this situation," he said.

Yang had also suffered from "acute stress disorder" during the trial, said Choh.

While the defence raised Yang's lack of prior convictions as a mitigating factor, the prosecution argued that he should not be seen as an untraced offender, especially when there was a substantial period of two years between his two offences.

"It was only because the law had not caught up with him," said DPP Sanjeev.

Earlier in June, Yang was convicted of 120 charges, the bulk of which related to falsification of receipts for his music and dance school to gain permanent residency here.

The others were immigration and cheating offenses, as well as breaches under the Companies Act.

Yang first got to know Chung, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2014, when he was her tour guide in Beijing in 2008.

He moved in to stay with her at her Gerald Crescent bungalow a year after they met. In 2010, she made a will in which he stood to inherit everything.

However, in April last year, the courts recognised a new will that her niece, Hedy Mok, made on her behalf.

Under it, most of her assets would go to charity.

Mok took out a series of civil actions in 2014, claiming her aunt had been unduly influenced by Yang, putting the case in the media spotlight. She also sued him for manipulating the widow to control her assets, estimated at S$40 million. — TODAY