Corpun file 24718 at www.corpun.com

Today, Singapore, 5 September 2013

Man in fake-cop ruse gets 8 years' jail, 12 strokes of cane

By Kimberley Spykerman

SINGAPORE -- A man who was part of a fake-cop ruse to rob three Indian nationals of some S$1.3 million was yesterday sentenced to eight years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

Mohammad Ansari Abdul Hussain, 34, is the first to be sentenced among five men linked to the Dunlop Street robbery in September last year.

He and two accomplices had worn police uniforms to dupe their victims, who were foreign businessmen. They restrained the men with cable ties and robbed them.

Ansari pleaded guilty last month to charges of gang robbery and impersonating a public servant. Seven other charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The other four men implicated in the case have claimed trial. They are Mohammad Faizal Ajmalhan, 30; Magesan Ramasamy, 34; Arunachalam Laksmanan, 34; and Chinnaya Antony Samy, 35.

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During sentencing, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow reprimanded Ansari, saying a heavy sentence was warranted because of the fake-cop ruse.

"The very symbol of law and order in our society was brazenly turned into a tool of criminality, audaciously employed to achieve the opposite of what it stands for," said the judge.

He also noted the large sum of money involved in the case, adding that the recovery of almost S$900,000 was solely due to effective police investigation rather than any cooperation or remorse on the part of Ansari or his accomplices.

The entire operation to rob the men was also designed and executed with a high level of sophistication, which showed that their preparations were meticulous and the victims were specifically targeted, the judge said.

Ansari could have been jailed up to 20 years and caned for gang robbery.

Copyright 2013 © MediaCorp Press Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Corpun file 24717 at www.corpun.com

The New Paper, Singapore, 6 September 2013

Burglar risks death fall for $123

BIG RISK: Pek Kok Chong (above) broke into a flat and stole $123.17. He later climbed out the window of the 8-storey flat using knotted curtains. Shaffiq Alkhatib

BREAKING into an eighth-storey flat was easy. But getting out after being cornered was another matter.

Rather than surrender to the police, Pek Kok Chong, 39, risked plunging to his death by climbing out of a bedroom window and scaling down the side of an HDB block using curtains as a makeshift rope.

But his escape attempt was short-lived. The police nabbed him in a flat on the sixth storey. Pek, whose loot from his ill-fated burglary was a mere $123.17, pleaded guilty to two counts of housebreaking and one count of theft on Aug 8.

District Judge Siva Shanmugam on Tuesday sentenced the jobless man to five years of corrective training and 12 strokes of the cane. Four other charges for similar offences were taken into consideration during sentencing.

For each count of housebreaking, Pek could have been jailed up to 10 years. For theft, he could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.

Corrective training is a prison regime for repeat offenders and does not offer the usual one-third remission for good behaviour.

Pek, who was released from prison last May after serving time for housebreaking and theft, has been in and out of jail since 1989.

On June 26, he broke into a flat on the floor where he lived at Block 641, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4. Its owner, Madam Cheng Khah Gaik, 80, was out at the time.

But another neighbour, a housewife who wanted to be known only as Ms Gini, 35, told The New Paper that she had called the police after spotting Pek removing a glass pane from a louvre window to gain entry into the flat around 11am that day.

She said: "His sister used to live with him and I often looked after her five-year-old son. She told me that he had a criminal record. That's why I became suspicious when I saw him at the corridor.

"As I was calling the police, I noticed that half his body was already inside Ah Ma's (Madam Cheng's) flat. I was shocked."

Pek Kok Chong escaped by climbing from the 8th storey flat to a 6th-floor unit, but was quickly nabbed by the police.

Copyright © 2013. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.

Corpun file 24740 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 17 September 2013

Bras Basah fatal attack

Jail and six strokes for final accused

By Elena Chong

THE final man involved in a fatal attack on a computer technician at Bras Basah Complex in April 2011 was sentenced to four years and seven months' jail and six strokes of the cane yesterday.

Delivery assistant Nur Iksan Abdul Wahid, 25, was convicted on Sept 4 of causing grievous hurt to Mr Syed Ali Abdullah Alhamid, 25, by punching and kicking him.

Mr Syed Ali died of a severe head injury as a result of the attack, which involved two other men who had been sentenced to four years' jail and six strokes of the cane each.

Iksan was also found guilty of instigating one of the co-accused to steal the victim's card holder containing $20 and two cards.

The victim was at Soul, a club at North Bridge Road, with friends on the evening of April 14, 2011.

Around midnight, Iksan's group arrived. He became acquainted with the victim and the two later gathered at the open space at Bras Basah Complex.

They were joined by Muhammad Arsyil Johar, 21, and Muhammad Nazrul Ali, 22, Iksan's national service friends.

An altercation later ensued between Mr Syed Ali and Iksan's group.

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The prosecution said that Iksan threw the first punch at Mr Syed Ali's face. The victim fell and became unconscious.

Arsyil and Nazrul also kicked and punched the victim. Iksan did nothing to stop them.

Mr Ramesh Tiwary, Iksan's lawyer, said that there was no common intention between his client and the other two accused to injure the victim.

Iksan claimed in his police statement that the victim had propositioned him.

In sentencing Iksan, District Judge Marvin Bay said that even if the accused was offended at the proposition, he should have just walked away.

"There can be no justification for the extreme violence visited on the victim," the judge added.