4 youths charged with assaulting 63-year-old taxi driver, robbing him of S$200
Four teenaged suspects allegedly punched and kicked a taxi driver after he dropped them off along Sungei Tengah Road.
SINGAPORE — Four youths aged between 12 and 16 were charged on Wednesday (Oct 14) with assaulting a taxi driver and robbing him of S$200 last week.
The suspects cannot be named due to amendments to the Children and Young Persons Act, which took effect in July. The identities of accused persons aged below 18 cannot be published in order to protect them.
The oldest suspect is female while the others — who are 12, 14 and 15 years old — are male.
It is unclear how they know each other.
They each face one charge of voluntarily causing hurt with common intention to the 63-year-old driver while committing the robbery.
Court documents showed that they allegedly assaulted the man by punching and kicking his face and body at about 11.30pm on Oct 8.
The police said on Tuesday that the taxi driver had dropped the group off along Sungei Tengah Road, which is in the western part of Singapore and inhabited primarily by farm land.
The four were arrested on Tuesday after officers from Jurong Police Division identified them through ground enquiries and with the help of images from closed circuit television and police cameras.
Three of the suspects were later believed to be involved in a separate case of housebreaking along Choa Chu Kang Avenue 7, based on the police’s preliminary investigations. The police did not say which three were involved.
The oldest among them was remanded for investigations and will return to court on Oct 21.
Robbery with hurt carries a jail term of between five and 20 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane.
Those aged below 18 cannot be caned under the law.
