HE has had constant brushes with the law since 2000 when he was just 13.

His string of convictions included snatch theft, robbery and housebreaking.

But three months after he was released from the reformative training centre in May, Mohammad Iskandar Abu Bakar Sidek, now 21, robbed an elderly man with a group of five friends, aged from 16 to 21.

A district court on Wednesday sentenced him to three years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for the offence which was committed on Aug 29.

The court heard that Mohammad Iskandar and his friends went looking for a potential target to rob near the MRT track along Tampines Avenue 2 early that day.

Their victim was 67-year-old driver Lim Geok Seng.

When Mr Lim walked past them at about 4.30 am, the group surrounded him, pushed him around and grabbed his hands.

They took $20 cash, his identity card and an EZlink card with a stored value of about $16, among other cards from his front shirt pocket. They then fled in the direction of Block 248 Tampines Street 21.

In mitigation, the National Serviceman told the court that he had acted out of peer pressure and was 'merely following the others'.

Just before he was led away by police officers, District Judge Jasbendar Kaur told him: 'You are very young. It is really time for you to change your ways and grow up.'

His accomplices have been arrested and will be dealt with later.