Jail for S’porean man in knife assault who sneaked into Johor on lorry in 2022 without passport
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Muhammad Sabri Rifaie Zul was sentenced to three years and 14 weeks’ jail on Aug 11.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
Follow topic:
- Muhammad Sabri Rifaie Zul illegally left Singapore in a lorry in 2022 before he was sent back here in 2024.
- Sabri, a repeat drug offender, also committed assault at a Serangoon Road eatery before fleeing the country.
- Sabri was sentenced to three years and 14 weeks' jail on Aug 11.
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SINGAPORE - A man who did not have a valid passport decided to leave Singapore illegally in late 2022 while he was out on bail over an incident where he injured another man with a knife.
Singaporean Muhammad Sabri Rifaie Zul climbed into the rear compartment of a Malaysia-registered lorry while the driver was away, hid among some baskets of produce, and slipped unnoticed across the Causeway into Johor.
Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) prosecutor Kelvin Teo told the court that the Malaysian authorities sent Sabri back to Singapore in October 2024, and he was arrested soon after.
Sabri was sentenced to three years and 14 weeks’ jail on Aug 11 after he pleaded guilty to leaving Singapore without presenting his passport to the authorities, assault and drug-related offences.
Court documents stated that the 31-year-old is a repeat drug abuser.
In December 2020, he was ordered to spend a year in a drug rehabilitation centre for consuming methamphetamine and morphine, before he was placed on drug supervision for five years in June 2022.
He failed to turn up for a urine test on Nov 3, 2022, as required under a supervision order.
Later that same month, Sabri was at a Serangoon Road restaurant when he used a dining knife to injure a man who had confronted him over a staring incident, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Kester Tan.
The victim was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where he was found to have injuries including superficial lacerations to his abdomen and right thigh.
Sabri was arrested on Nov 19, 2022, and released on bail after being charged in court over the incident.
The ICA prosecutor said that within a week of being out on bail, Sabri had a tiff with his family and decided to leave Singapore illegally.
“He knew that there were many Malaysian lorries parked at a road alongside a... petrol station near Woodlands Checkpoint,” said Assistant Superintendent Teo.
“There was a line of lorries parked alongside the petrol station, and he decided to board the last lorry in the line... He climbed onto the cargo area of the lorry from the back and hid between baskets of food produce.”
Sabri managed to enter Malaysia but was sent back to Singapore in late 2024.
