'You seem to behave like a gangster': Judge chides rioting teen who opened bank accounts for scammers
The judge questioned the 17-year-old, pointing out to him that he was barely out of secondary school but was involved in such "shocking" acts.
File photo of the State Courts of Singapore. (File photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
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SINGAPORE: Aged just 16 or 17, a boy took part in multiple group fights, opened bank accounts for criminals and tossed a karambit knife into the bushes outside the State Courts when he remembered it was in his bag.
After entering his guilty plea on Thursday (Mar 14), the 17-year-old stood meekly as the judge chided him about his behaviour.
"Although you are only 17, barely out of secondary school, you seem to behave like a gangster," said District Judge Eddy Tham.
"Is that what you want to be?"
The teen shook his head.
He pleaded guilty to four charges including rioting, abetting cheating, possessing a knife at the State Courts, and group fighting.
Another seven charges will be considered in sentencing.
THE CASE
The teen's first violent incident according to court documents was in January 2023 and involved former schoolmates.
One of them confronted the teen via Instagram, claiming that the teen had elbowed another schoolmate at a school event.
The teen denied this and asked for a meet-up to "talk things out", the court heard.
The teenager went for the meet-up at a carpark in Choa Chu Kang with a group of four other young boys, aged 15 or 16.
On the opposing side were two victims, 15-year-old boys.
The offender began questioning one of the victims about a remark he made, where he called the offender short.
The victim said it was "play play only", but this made the offender unhappy.
He challenged the victim to a one-on-one fight, but the victim refused.
The offender and his group then attacked the two victims, punching and kicking them and leaving them with bruises.
In April 2023, the offender needed money and searched for fast cash on Telegram.
An unidentified user told him he could earn S$300 for each bank account he opened and handed over.
The teenager opened a bank account with OCBC and handed over the iBanking details to the Telegram user, receiving S$300.
He subsequently opened two other bank accounts and handed them over for money.
A 46-year-old man later lodged a police report saying he had been scammed into transferring S$35,000 to one of the offender's accounts.
The scammer had impersonated the man's chief commercial officer on WhatsApp and asked for the transfer citing a medical emergency.
The police later found more than S$24,000 in the teenager's OCBC account and froze it.
On May 31, 2023, the teenager went to the State Courts with his friends to attend the hearing of another friend.
Before he entered, he realised that he had a black karambit knife in his bag.
Knowing that the knife would be detected by the security machines at the entrance of the court building, the boy decided to dispose of it.
He waited for an officer stationed outside the entrance of the building to look away before throwing the knife into the bushes.
A senior security officer for Aetos Guards Services who was on patrol at the State Courts observed that the offender and his friends were behaving suspiciously.
He checked the area they had been standing near and found the knife in the bushes.
A police report was later lodged, stating that a male subject was spotted from the closed-circuit television footage dropping an item at the bushes near the drop-off point, which was later discovered to be a knife.
It is an offence to possess an offensive weapon in public.
When the offender was arrested in May 2023, the police found a knife and a disposable e-cigarette on him.
The boy also got into a group fight near Peninsula Plaza in December 2023, throwing punches and kicks at opposing group members.
Three victims sustained injuries including lacerations, a nasal bone fracture and an ankle fracture.
JUDGE CHIDES TEEN
Judge Tham told the offender that the statement of facts "makes for a very shocking read".
"You should know very well that's the method scammers are using in order to get the fruits of their crime," he said, referring to the opening of bank accounts for fast cash.
"And you are being one of them ... you are being used by them to facilitate their scams," said Judge Tham.
The teen looked down.
"The monies may not go to you, but ultimately, you are also responsible for the harm caused to the victims of such crimes," said the judge.
"This is a very serious problem. Every time we see an update in the newspapers, it's talking about scams amounting to millions of dollars to thousands of victims."
Judge Tham said he hoped the teen would take the time in remand to reflect on his actions and behaviour.
He called for reports to assess the teen's suitability for probation and reformative training and adjourned sentencing to May.
