Dad didn't know she won appeal

By Celine Lim
December 14, 2007

NO one from Ms Wong Shan Shan's family turned up in court yesterday.

They had no idea that her appeal was successful and that she would walk free at 6pm.

Her father, 63, was in disbelief when The New Paper informed him a few hours before her release from prison.

The retired businessman then called the Changi Women's Prison and the High Court frantically for confirmation.

He said: 'I'd told her not to appeal at first, but she told me it would be okay. She was quite confident.'

Mr Wong was visibly pleased and relieved at his daughter's early release.

He said she had been preparing to go to the US for university before she was arrested in July.

He said: 'My daughter's grades were not bad, she could go to polytechnic. It's not too late for her to go to the US. Her older brother will send her there to study.'

Mr Wong said his two sons and one other daughter were university graduates.

He said: 'Shan Shan is my youngest and the most beloved. Her going to jail is the biggest blow my family has had. It's also a blow to her psychologically.'

Mr Wong said he thought his daughter would just be fined as he did not think it was a serious offence.

He said: 'If we didn't buy this place, none of this would have happened.

'And it was expensive too. Only four units were occupied when we moved in because of the price.'

But Mr Wong said he had bought the executive five-room flat for his daughter. He said: 'The Jurong West flat will be her dowry. My son got a Redhill flat, another son got a Boon Lay flat and we have properties in China.'

Did he know about his daughter's ambition to become a police officer?

He said he had not heard about it from her. But Mr Wong, who's a former military police officer in China, said it would be in keeping with the family tradition. He said his father had been a high-ranking officer in the army and his wife was a military nurse.