SINGAPORE: When he was only 16 or 17 years old, a child started numerous party conflicts, opened bank records for criminals, and threw a karambit blade into the bushes outside State Courts when he remembered it was in his case.
The 17-year-old stood meekly as the judge chided him about his behavior after entering his guilty plea on Thursday ( Mar 14 ).
” Although you are just 17, little out of secondary class, you seem to act like a gangster”, said District Judge Eddy Tham.
Do you want to be like that?
The girl shook his head.
He pleaded guilty to four costs including fighting, abetting lying, possessing a blade at the State Courts, and party battle.
Another seven fees may be considered in punishment.
THE Event
The child’s first violent event, according to court records, occurred in January 2023 when he was with ex-collegemates.
One of them claimed the girl had elbowed another classmate at a school event, and that the other had taken to Instagram to confront the teen.
The teen requested a meet-up to “talk things out,” the judge was told, and the youth denied this.
The girl joined a group of four different younger kids, either 15 or 16, for the meet-up at a parking lot in Choa Chu Kang.
On the opposing part were two patients, 15- yr- older kids.
One of the victims was being questioned by the criminal about a comment he made that described the offender as quick.
The target said it was “play enjoy only”, but this made the offender angry.
He challenged the prey to a one- on- one struggle, but the target refused.
The two sufferers were subsequently attacked by the criminal and his party, hitting and kicking them and leaving them bruised.
The criminal searched for quick money on Telegram in April 2023 and needed cash.
Unidentified user informed him that he could make$ 300 for each bank account he opened and gave to him.
The girl gave the Telegram users S$ 300 after opening an account with OCBC and giving the teenager the details of the bank account.
He then gave money to two more bank records before opening them.
A 46- season- old gentleman afterwards lodged a authorities report saying he had been scammed into transferring S$ 35, 000 to one of the offender’s accounts.
The scammer had used a medical emergency to impersonate the man’s chief commercial officer on WhatsApp and requested the transfer.
The police later found more than S$ 24, 000 in the teenager’s OCBC account and froze it.
The teenager and his friends went to the State Courts to hear a friend’s argument on May 31st, 2023.
He realized he had a black Karambit knife in his bag before going inside.
The boy made the decision to dispose of the knife because he was aware that the security staff at the court building would be able to find it.
Before slinging the knife into the bushes, he waited for an officer stationed outside the building’s entrance to turn away.
A senior security officer for Aetos Guards Services who was on patrol at the State Courts noticed that the offender and his friends were acting suspiciously.
He looked over the area they had been standing nearby and discovered the knife in the bushes.
A male subject was later identified from the closed-circuit television footage of a man dropping a knife in the bushes close to the drop-off point, according to a police report that was later made public.
Possession of offensive weapons in public constitutes a criminal offense.
The offender was detained in May of 2023 when he was discovered with a knife and an electronic cigarette.
The boy also fought with other people in a group near Peninsula Plaza in December of that year, throwing punches and kicks at the other party members.
Three victims sustained injuries including lacerations, a nasal bone fracture and an ankle fracture.
JUDGE CHIDES TEEN
Judge Tham informed the offender that the statement of facts “makes for a very shocking read.”
You should be well aware that this is the technique used by scam artists to obtain the fruits of their crimes, he said, referring to the opening of bank accounts for quick money.
” And you are being one of them… you are being used by them to facilitate their scams”, said Judge Tham.
The teen looked down.
” The monies may not go to you, but ultimately, you are also responsible for the harm caused to the victims of such crimes”, said the judge.
” This is a very serious problem. Every time we read a newspaper update, it mentions fraud involving millions of dollars and thousands of victims.
Judge Tham expressed his hope that the teen would take the time to reflect on his actions and behavior while incarcerated.
He adjourned sentencing to May and requested reports to assess the teen’s suitability for probation and reformative training.