SHE had just finished her first night working as a bar hostess in Geylang.

Her parents have not seen Ms Cai Baochang, 29, since.



She has been missing since 25 Jan.

Her mother 57-year-old mother, Madam Shen, said she last saw her daughter near their home that morning.

'Around 7am, I saw her having breakfast alone at a hawker centre on Haig Road,' Shin Min Daily News quoted her as saying.

'She must have just came back from work. As I was in a rush to go to work, I hurried along.'

Madam Shen works as a cleaner while her husband, whose name was not given, is an odd-job labourer.

Ms Cai, their only child, is the unwed mother of a 3-month-old girl.

They said she never told them who the baby's father is.

An aunt is looking after the baby.

Madam Shen said her daughter worked in a factory after finishing Secondary 5.

Recently, Ms Cai started night classes to learn secretarial skills.

Last month, she told Madam Shen she wanted to work in a Geylang bar.

Her duties include pouring drinks for customers, Madam Shen said.

Madam Shen and her husband objected to this at first.

She said: 'The environment at bars isn't very good. We were afraid she may get cheated again.

'The working hours are very long - from 7pm to 7am. As she had just given birth, it may not be good for her health.'

Madam Shen recalled that Ms Cai had said she would quit after her second day. She said: 'Around 5pm on 24 Jan, I came home after work. She was still at home.

'But she was gone after I returned home from buying groceries.'

Madam Shen assumed her daughter had left for work.

The next morning, she saw her daughter at the Haig Road hawker centre, but did not know that Ms Cai would not come home after that.

Madam Shen made a police report on 29 Jan.

Ms Cai did not take her passport or handphone with her, and these are at their home. She did not take any extra clothes either.

She was wearing a top with blue and pink stripes, black pants and black shoes and was carrying a handbag when Madam Shen last saw her.

On the baby's father, Madam Shen said: 'She only told us that it is someone she got to know at her night class.



'After she got pregnant, the man refused to take responsibility. He disappeared and she couldn't contact him at all.

'We don't even know what the baby's father looked like and now, her mother is gone.'

Madam Shen said she seldom saw her daughter over the last two years. She did not even know Ms Cai was pregnant.

She said: 'Soon after I come home from work, my daughter would leave for night class.

'During weekends, she would not be at home, saying she had to go out to look for work.'

She felt her daughter was quite naive, and had been cheated.

Ms Cai's parents found out about her pregnancy only a month before she gave birth. Madam Shen said: 'She is very thin and didn't have a big tummy.

'When she was three months pregnant, I noticed her stomach had a slight bump.

'She said she ate too much and so I didn't suspect anything.' In the eighth month, a relative commented to Madam Shen that her daughter might be pregnant.

She said: 'We questioned her and she admitted it.

'My husband and I were very angry and hurt. I cried as I didn't understand why she would end up like that.'