Jail for nurse aide who cheated elderly colleagues of about S$10,000 to pay off debts

SINGAPORE: A nurse aide was on Thursday ( Nov 21 ) sentenced to two years in jail for cheating his colleagues of almost S$ 10, 000 ( US$ 7, 500 ) to pay off debts.

Yari Rawi, 50, a former inmate who recently cheated on other people by using a similar tactic to target old acquaintances, is a repeat criminal.

His current crimes occurred while he was still under research and soon after his release from prison for a previous offense.

Because he was being chased by improper lenders and had a lot of debt, Yari claimed in court that he should have reoffended so quickly.

He claimed that his businesses fired him whenever they learned of his criminal history and that repeated attempts to hold onto a task had failed.

Yari claimed that this was because of the media coverage of his previous faith, and he contacted Principal District Judge Toh Han Li to ask him to stop the media from citing this information.

” Sorry, I ca n’t control the issue of publication because these are open court proceedings”, the judge told him.

Yari pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating, with a second taken into consideration for punishment.

He met one of his subjects, a 68-year-old social employer, while both were working at New Horizon Centre.

Yari contacted her to ask for money to pay for funeral costs and an attention function for family members between October 2020 and February 2021.

She lent him S$ 3, 800 in full, but when she asked him to transfer the amount, he made mistakes. Later, he admitted using the money to pay off his debts and that the justifications were false.

Another target was a 64-year-old caretaker whom Yari met while working at another company.

He informed the caretaker that he could purchase branded luggage at a discount from a friend in Japan.

The man lent him more than S$ 4, 400 to get four Maison Goyard carriers. By the end of the month, Yari predicted the bags may appear on January 5, 2021, after the funds had been transferred.

Eventually, he informed the man that he had returned the luggage because they had been delivered incorrectly. He avoided following names from the caretaker.

The older gentleman reported to the police after constantly failing to return his money.

By claiming he could arrange for them to book flights and accommodations in Jakarta, Yari’s next accusation involved cheating on two people for more than S$ 1,500.

Additionally, Yari has been found guilty of fraud and judicial breach of trust.

He was in his last two weeks of a medical assignment to obtain his nursing license, but he informed Judge Toh that he had made an effort to change.

Danny Nah, a defense attorney, claimed that Yari had done nicely and won awards while taking his medical training at the Institute of Technical Education, and that he was determined to change everything.

Santhra Aiyasamy, the deputy public prosecutor, requested three years, three months, and five months in jail, while he requested 22 months ‘ imprisonment.

Judge Toh took issue with the proportion of the attorney’s proposed word, noting that Yari received five times ‘ prison for a similar charge in 2020, but she was today” jumping” to a prison term of more than a year per cost.

The judge noted in his decision that Yari made full restitution to the victims but that he should receive a heavier sentence because his previous sentence did not dissuade him.

The court was then informed that Mr. Nah needed more time to inform the ministry of his conviction because Yari was a member of the Ministry of Health. In order for his client to accomplish this, he requested that the jail sentence be commuted.

Yari’s sentence was set to begin in January 2014, but Judge Toh did not require a$ 15,000 increase in his bail.

Cheating is punishable by a fine and a sentence in prison lasting up to 10 years.