Jail, caning, fine for man who robbed Jurong moneylender with 2 others

When his accomplices were hesitant about going through with a robbery, the 23-year-old cajoled them into it.

After Karrtik Stalniraj convinced Kotta Kumar Jeswanth, 20, and Tusheintar Segaran, 22, they robbed licensed moneylender OT Credit in Jurong East of $48,000 while armed with karambit knives in November 2020.

Yesterday, Karrtik was sentenced to five years, eight months and five weeks' jail and 12 strokes of the cane, and fined $3,000 for the armed robbery and unrelated offences.

The offences include stabbing another man, spitting at a police officer, meeting others for drinks during the circuit breaker period and stealing from a man who was sleeping in Jurong Central Park.

Kotta, who was a teenager at the time of the offence, was ordered to undergo reformative training, while Tusheintar was sentenced to two years' jail and six strokes of the cane.

The court heard that the trio agreed to rob OT Credit at Block 135 Jurong Gateway Road as Karrtik needed money for Deepavali and to buy a gift for his then girlfriend. He suggested the shop as it had only two female shop assistants working there.

At noon on Nov 19, 2020, the trio arrived near the shop and Tusheintar entered wearing a stolen motorcycle helmet but left without making any inquiries.

At around 4pm, Karrtik suggested that they go to the shop together as Kotta and Tusheintar appeared to be losing interest in the robbery. He and Kotta would enter the shop first, while Tusheintar acted as a lookout.

Closed-circuit television footage played in court showed Kotta threatening the shop's 36-year-old manager with a knife. He then holds her by her hair while stashing money into a bag.

Karrtik got $14,500 for the robbery. The trio bought new clothes with the money, and Karrtik bought a phone for his girlfriend.

The men were tracked down by the police and arrested in Geylang at 1.35am the next day.

Separately, on March 16, 2020, at about 5.30pm, Karrtik got into a fight with another man, K. Dheenan Leroy, who brought a Swiss army knife to confront him.

Karrtik and his brother-in-law Selva Vinayaga Prakash Ravoo, who was with him, had stun guns.

During the fight, Dheenan stabbed Selva, and Karrtik was stabbed in his left shoulder.

When Dheenan fled, Karrtik picked up the knife and chased him. He then punched Dheenan in the head and stabbed him in the right leg several times.

Police traced Karrtik and Selva and seized their stun guns. For their roles in the incident, Selva was jailed for 12 weeks and fined $3,000 in 2020, while Dheenan got seven months' jail last year.

For voluntarily causing hurt while committing robbery, Karrtik could have been jailed for between five and 20 years and received at least 12 strokes of the cane.