Woo May Hoe: Cult leader who claimed to be a “goddess”
For about eight years from 2012, 54-year-old Singaporean Woo May Hoe claimed to be a deity who could communicate with gods and spirits.
This attracted more than 30 individuals to fervently follow her teachings. They had sought redemption from their “sins” or healing for themselves or their relatives.
However, Woo lorded over her followers, causing them severe physical pain and financial debt.
Source: 8world
In 2020, a few of her followers began to file cases against her, which led to her arrest in October that same year.
On 19 June 2024, Woo was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to five charges, including cheating and causing grievous hurt.
Claimed to be a deity
Starting in 2012, Woo led a group of followers in Singapore who believed in Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma, or Amma, a spiritual leader from Tamil Nadu, India.
Amma is regarded as the first known incarnation of the goddess Narayani, who represents the highest form of feminine energy. In other cultures, the goddess is also referred to as Quan Yin and Mother Earth, among other names.
Source: Sri Narayani Peedam
According to Channel NewsAsia, Woo held lengthy spiritual sessions regularly, convincing her followers that she was a deity who could communicate with the supernatural realm.
She demanded to be called “lord” and persuaded a third of her followers to quit their jobs to serve her full-time, taking care of her cooking, house cleaning, and driving.
Even those spared from living with her had to abide by her rules and report their daily activities and communications to her.
Cheated her followers of millions of dollars
Woo’s followers were also required to disclose their how much money they had, with the warning that lying would result in divine punishment.
She convinced them that in order to improve their health, they needed to remove their “bad karma” and increase their “good karma” through payments to Amma.
Image courtesy of Pexels for illustrative purposes only
According to TODAY, Woo collected sums ranging from S$3,000 to S$100,000, claiming these funds would be sent to India to buy cows or build temples and schools.
One woman reportedly handed over a total of S$6.5 million after Woo lied about building a temple and a school in India.
Had her followers buy her cars and homes
Apart from money, Woo also acquired homes and cars through her followers.
She instructed them to purchase landed houses, condominiums, and vehicles as “a form of worship,” which she then used for herself.
In some cases, she would simply cheat them into giving her the money for these purchases.
Source: Google Maps
Reportedly, some of these properties she acquired were a condo unit at The Tapestry in Tampines and a landed property in Bedok.
She also moved into a four-storey, seven-bedroom house in Jalan Waringin in 2016, reported The Straits Times (ST).
In total, she cheated her followers of S$7 million from 2012 and 2020.
Additionally, she deceived them into taking out S$6.6 million in loans from financial institutions.
Imposed brutal punishments
If the followers disobeyed Woo, she would impose brutal punishments on them, such as hitting them, using pliers to pull out their teeth and forcing them to consume human faeces.
These acts were carried out by either Woo herself or by her followers under her instruction.
In 2019, one follower sustained permanent injury to an eye after being struck in the face with a bundle of canes.
The victim had complained about the pain to her eye, but Woo simply told her to wash her eyes with “holy water”, drink the liquid and stare directly at the sun. She was also forbidden to seek medical attention despite the condition worsening with time.
Source: Google Maps
Later that year, the same victim was instructed to jump from the second floor of an office building at Ubi Techpark after borrowing S$100 from someone without informing Woo.
Threatened with being pushed if she didn’t jump, the woman complied, landing painfully on both feet before collapsing.
As a result of this, the victim suffered fractures in both ankles and plantar fasciitis, a type of heel pain. She also has to have lifelong follow-ups for possible optic nerve damage.
Neighbours noticed cult’s weird activities
Speaking to ST, residents of Jalan Waringin shared their strange observations and experiences with Woo.
One resident mentioned that Woo and her group would gather at the top floor of her home, singing and playing a drum from evening until past midnight. Another resident confirmed this, noting the group would be dressed in white.
Another neighbour shared that when Woo arrived “in her big car”, everyone would start lining up 30 minutes before her arrival and bow down to her, “like in a Korean drama”.
Source: Google Maps
During a Lunar New Year celebration at Woo’s house, neighbours recalled that her followers introduced themselves with names of fruits and even claimed to be reincarnations of fruits.
Later, a neighbour noticed Woo’s followers sitting outside the house with casts on their legs or arms. When asked if they were okay, they would either not respond or simply say they had injured themselves.
‘Goddess’ suffers from paranoid schizophrenia
Only in mid-2020 did her followers begin lodging police reports against Woo, leading to her arrest in October that same year.
These followers cited extensive physical abuse, loss of life savings, and forced bank loans as reasons for their complaints.
Upon assessment by the Institute of Mental Health, Woo was found to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when she committed her offences.
However, while this condition contributed to her actions, her fraudulent activities were determined to be deliberate and within her control.
The assessment also revealed that Woo was aware of the illegality of all her actions.
Sentenced to 10.5 years in jail
Finally, on 19 June 2024, Woo was sentenced to 10.5 years in jail.
In addition to pleading guilty to five charges, 45 other charges were considered during her sentencing.
The prosecution sought nine to 12 years sentence for Woo, stating she had created “a reign of terror” over her followers.
In contrast, the defence argued for 69 months, citing Woo’s mental illness, which they claimed interfered with her thinking, emotions, and behaviour.
However, the judge acknowledged the harm Woo caused her followers and the control she had over their finances.
The judge also noted that Woo’s starting sentence would have been greater if not for her mental illness.
Also read: The case of Felicia Teo: Missing student whose fate was only revealed after 13 years
The case of Felicia Teo: Missing student whose fate was only revealed after 13 years
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Featured image adapted from CNA
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