Probation for teen who armed himself with knife in robbery attempt involving more than $81k

SINGAPORE – A teenager was on March 4 ordered to undergo probation for 18 months over a robbery attempt involving more than $81,000.

The offender was just 16 years old when he armed himself with a knife and snatched a man’s paper bag containing the money.

As part of the sentence, the teen must perform 60 hours of community service.

He must also remain indoors from 10pm to 6am every day, and his parents were bonded for $5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during the probation period.

The youth, who is now 17,

pleaded guilty to one count of attempted robbery in January.

He cannot be named as those below 18 are protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.

His legal woes started around mid-November 2023, when someone known only as “Dilton” contacted him on messaging platform Telegram and offered him a job.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Jing Min said the job was to “take money and run away”.

Dilton, who promised to pay him after he completed the job, also told him to buy a knife to “scare the other party”. But he did not tell him how much he would receive as a reward for committing the offence.

The youth accepted the offer, and at around 11am on Nov 18, 2023, Dilton contacted him again, saying he had to perform the job that day.

He was tasked to meet a person at the void deck of a Punggol block of flats and receive some money.

As part of the task, he had to pretend to count the money before running away with the loot.

Dilton transferred $100 to the teen’s bank account to pay for the knife and transport to the location.

The teen later bought the knife in Bukit Merah, tucked it into his waistband and used his shirt to hide the weapon.

He also wrapped a piece of cloth around the handle of the knife to avoid leaving fingerprints on it.

He arrived in Punggol at around 2.30pm and went to the void deck of a block of flats. He met a 33-year-old man carrying a paper bag with $81,060 in cash.

The prosecutor said the man had wanted to use the money to buy cryptocurrency after earlier agreeing on the purchase price with an unknown Telegram user. The teen began counting the money before he grabbed the bag and fled.

DPP Tan said: “The victim gave chase. The accused attempted to take out the knife from... his waist(band)... but the knife slipped from the accused’s grasp and dropped on the floor.”

The man managed to restrain the teenager, and the police were alerted soon after.