A sickle-wielding man caught on videos involved in an altercation with uniformed personnel near Woodlands Checkpoint on Jan. 5, 2018, has pleaded guilty to a variety of charges.

Guy holding sickle arrested pic.twitter.com/Z5lqAV9haI

— Mothership (@MothershipSG) January 5, 2018

The accused, Chew Guan Mong, a 45-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to 16 charges on Wednesday, Aug. 28.

These charges included armed robbery, drug-related offences, traffic violations, robbing a woman of her car, taking methamphetamine, and vandalism.

Another 25 charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

He had previously been banned from driving for 30 years from August 2004 to August 2034.

Chew left prison in 2016 after serving a 12-year corrective training (CT) sentence.

The incident

The incident on Jan. 5, 2018, started at around 1pm.

Chew was driving along the Pan Island Expressway towards Tuas.

He was driving a rented black Toyota Camry in a zig-zag pattern, despite being banned from driving.

He side-swiped an SMRT bus after he swerved onto its path near the exit to Clementi Road.

He then veered left and bounced off the wall.

Fled on foot

Chew abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot after colliding into the centre guard railings and a wall near the road shoulder.

He then ran down the slope of a slip road merging into Upper Bukit Timah Road.

In his possession was a bag containing a sickle, a long rusty knife and a bottle of kerosene.

At the end of the slip road, Chew carjacked a red Mazda 6 driven by a 40-year-old woman.

The vehicle had stopped due to heavy traffic.

Chew threatened the woman with his sickle and shouted at her to leave.

The woman got off as she feared for her safety.

Chew drove off in the direction of Bukit Timah Expressway.

Ended up at Woodlands Checkpoint

He drove to Woodlands Checkpoint but got stuck in the motorcycle lane by mistake.

He intentionally crashed through a traffic control barrier in his desperation to escape.

He caused S$6,516.30 of damages to the public property belonging to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

The stolen car could no longer be driven as it sustained severe damages from the repeated collisions.

Altercation with police

Chew alighted the car with the sickle in his hands, and warned the police, ICA officers and AETOS auxiliary officers not to approach him.

He was eventually overpowered and arrested.

This sequence of events were caught on camera.

In his possession was a packet containing methamphetamine.

Chew admitted to his involvement in various other crimes.

These included three separate loan shark harassment incidents, possessing a knuckle-duster and a flick knife, and consuming meth.

Chew was also involved in the handling of S$80,000 ransom for a kidnapping orchestrated by criminals in Malaysia.

He agreed to collect the ransom money from the victim's father in 2017.

Chew is represented by lawyer Josephus Tan.

District Judge Ng Peng Hong called for a preventive detention report to be prepared.

Sentencing was adjourned to Sept. 17.

What preventive detention entails

Corrective training is meted out to repeat offenders who are not eligible for the usual one-third remission for good behaviour.

The maximum period for such a sentence is 14 years.

Preventive detention is only for repeat offenders who are above 30 years old.

Compared to corrective training, preventive detention involves a longer period of incarceration, lasting up to 20 years.