He was caught 20 hours later with the rifle and bullets at a public toilet on the third level of Cathay Orchard Cineleisure.

In an unrelated offence, Teo had a 40cm-long knife with him on April 14 last year when he was at the staircase of a condominium block where his ex-girlfriend lived.

What he got:

9 years and 2 months' jail

18 strokes of the cane

Justice Tay Yong Kwang says:

'MY HEART hurts for you that so young a man will have to spend some of the best years of his life in prison and have to undergo so many strokes of the cane, but I trust that you understand a deterrent sentence is unavoidable in the circumstances.

Dave, you have had a very hard life. I hope that this unfortunate and traumatic wrong turn in your life will make you much more mature and a whole lot wiser and that you will spend the next few years reconstructing your young life.

I hope that you will pursue your studies, listen to good advice from counsellors and learn many skills while in prison and that, upon your release, you will have a life full of meaning and purpose to honour the memory of your grandmother and your beloved younger brother.

It has been written, 'To everything there is a season'. There was a time when you loved, there came a time when you hated. There was a time when you felt you wanted to kill, now is the time for you to heal. There was a time you were broken down, now is the time to build yourself up. There was a time when you were at war in your being, now is the time to restore peace within.'

HE TOLD THREE TALES TO THREE PEOPLE: SINGAPORE