An Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East student took a bread knife to school in February, and one of his friends later used it to slash another student on campus.

The 18-year-old pleaded guilty in a district court yesterday to aiding his friend, now 19, in the attack.

The Straits Times understands that both teenagers are no longer ITE students, and the case involving the older youth, Palanidas Ramadas, is pending.

The 18-year-old also admitted to an unrelated offence - being part of an attempted robbery in October 2019. He cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act as he was 17 at the time of the attempted robbery.

The court heard that Palanidas contacted the teenager on Feb 15 to tell him to bring a bread knife to school as one of his friends had "problems" there. The youth took the knife to school the next day.

Palanidas and the victim, 20, later saw each other at the canteen but did not speak.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Shin Hui said Palanidas later informed the accused that he no longer needed the bread knife, as his friend had settled his issues.

But he told the teenager that he had a problem with the victim. Palanidas then asked the victim to meet at the school's basement carpark for a talk. The victim agreed.

As they made their way there, the accused handed the knife to Palanidas, the court heard.

DPP Lim said Palanidas later used the knife to slash the victim, who ran out of the school and went home to tell his father what happened.

In the attempted robbery in October 2019, the 18-year-old was said to be part of a group that tried to rob Mr Jaston Tan, 28, of $20,000 in cash.

The court heard that a man identified as Aaron Lim Jun Ying, 26, who was then in debt, had engaged another man, Chen Yongxian, 23, to hand over the money to Mr Tan.

As part of the plan, a group including the teenager would then rob Mr Tan to get the money back.

The DPP said a member of the group would pretend to beat Chen so that it appeared like he was also a victim.

They carried out the plan in Pasir Ris on Oct 16, 2019, but failed to get a bag containing the cash as Mr Tan refused to let go of it. They fled empty-handed after an eyewitness shouted at them. A woman later called the police and the offenders were arrested soon after.

Court documents did not mention the outcome of the cases involving Lim and Chen.

The teenager will be sentenced next month.