Jail for youth who injured taxi driver in robbery bid
Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — The last of a trio who injured a taxi driver while attempting to rob him in a Lim Chu Kang cemetery was on Friday (Feb 26) sentenced to 11 months’ jail, after a pre-sentencing report found him unfit for probation.
Tan Jing Zi, 23, was convicted of one count of voluntarily causing hurt to cabbie Mr Sazali Abdullah by acting as a lookout, with his godsister Eng Wan Fong, for their accomplice Goh Tiong Chien, who slashed Mr Sazali’s finger, lip and forehead with a chopper. He was also sentenced for one count of theft in dwelling, which Goh and Eng also took part in. The incident happened at around 1am on May 14 last year.
Despite Tan’s relatively young age, his acts warranted a “specifically deterrent” sentence, said District Judge Low Wee Ping in court on Friday, pointing to Tan’s string of past offences, several of which he was not convicted for.
Tan has been committing crimes, including a series of thefts, trespassing, mischief by fire, and underage sex with multiple girlfriends since he was 17, said District Judge Low, who referred to findings on a pre-sentencing report to determine Tan’s suitability for probation.
On one occasion, a girlfriend got pregnant but Tan refused to take responsibility for the child because she chose not to abort it, the court heard. “Incarceration is necessary ... with your background,” District Judge Low said.
The judge also said that Tan’s case fits squarely into recent guidelines set out by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon for dealing with young reoffenders. While a second shot at probation is not out of the question for young offenders who fall afoul of the law while on probation, the onus is on them to justify why the court should not opt for sentences that emphasise deterrence rather than rehabilitation, Chief Justice Menon had said last October. He made the remarks when he overturned a probation sentence handed to Boaz Koh, the chief instigator of a group of youths who vandalised rooftop walls in Toa Payoh last May.
However, District Judge Low said he took into consideration how Tan was not the one who wielded the chopper in this case, and gave him a “discount”. Urging Tan to turn over a new leaf, District Judge Low said: “Since you are young, with remission you should be out in less than 11 months. I suggest, after that, you don’t travel the unlawful or criminal path ... This is the punishment for your past. After you have served, spend the rest of your life making your father proud.”
For voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Sazali, Tan could have been jailed seven years or fined or punished with both, and/or caned. For committing theft in dwelling, he could have been jailed seven years and fined.
His sentence is the lightest of the trio: Goh was sentenced to 22 months’ jail and Eng was sentenced to 12 months’ jail.
