Late top S'pore criminal lawyer's son helps woman reduce jail time for cheating restaurants of S$10,000

A Filipino woman in Singapore who cheated two restaurants of over S$10,000 using edited PayNow screenshots successfully appealed to have her jail sentence reduced by 10 months.

Santos-Tumalip Maria Monalyn Bagaporo, 33, deceived these restaurants into delivering 59 meals without actually making payment, "because she wanted to order food for her friends and impress them", according to the prosecutor.

Previously on Nov. 13, 2025, she pleaded guilty to four charges including cheating and theft, and was sentenced to one year and 11 months' jail.

For her appeal hearing, she was represented by lawyer Sujesh Anandan, son of the late criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan.

He represented her pro bono and, on Aug. 28, successfully appealed to cut her jail term to one year and one month, Shin Min Daily News reported.

How she cheated the restaurants

Between 2022 and 2025, Bagaporo placed food delivery orders from restaurants and submit doctored PayNow screenshots as proof of payment, which the restaurants unknowingly accepted.

The PayNow transactions in the screenshots were actually payment transfers to herself. She used an app to edit the picture, changing the recipient to the name of the restaurant.

She would also edit the details of the sender's account, making it appear like she was making payments through different bank accounts.

Using this method, she made 35 orders from Home of Seafood amounting to S$3,891.75, and 24 orders from Baci Baci that added up to S$6,167.52.

Apart from restaurants, Bagaporo also cheated a hair salon at Orchard by using the same fabricated screenshot method to obtain gift vouchers valued at S$763.

During Bagaporo's sentencing in November 2025, the prosecution also pointed out that she reoffended four times while on court bail, using the same dishonest scheme.

The appeal

The day after she was sentenced, Bagaporo reached out to Pro Bono SG for legal representation through her sister, according to a court judgement dated Mar. 25, 2026.

In the appeal, Sujesh argued that Bagaporo's original jail sentence was too harsh because similar cases in the past received a lighter sentence despite involving greater losses or more instances of deception, Shin Min reported.

He urged the court to reduce her sentence for the cheating charge to seven months.

The prosecution objected to this, arguing that seven months is too low, and called for the original sentence to remain.

In his appeal for a more lenient sentence, Sujesh also told the court that a shorter sentence would allow Bagaporo to return home to the Philippines to reunite with her son sooner.

He said that she was pregnant during investigations for her case, and was granted permission to return home to give birth in 2023.

Not long after her son was born, she brought him to Singapore to continue assisting with police investigations.

After she was remanded from September 2025, however, mother and son have been separated.

Sujesh argued that the court should consider a lighter sentencer as Bagaporo had made full restitution for the losses she caused, expressed sincere remorse for her wrongdoing, and was cooperative throughout the investigation.

The judgement

Justice Kannan Ramesh, who presided over the appeal case, noted that past cheating cases involving a similar amount of losses as Bagaporo's typically received a sentence of three to six months in jail, according to a transcript of his oral judgement.

He also pointed out that Bagaporo's scheme of cheating the restaurants was simple, and she made no attempt to conceal her identity.

However, she did continue to reoffend while out on bail, which elevates her culpability, the judge added.

Ultimately, considering these factors, the judge decided to reduce the sentence for the cheating offence from 18 months to eight months.

This meant that Bagaporo's total jail sentence was cut by 10 months, from a year and 11 months, to a year and one month.

In court, Bagaporo's sister cried tears of joy when she heard the verdict, and thanked Sujesh after the hearing, according to Shin Min.