Student, 16, from top school in S'pore, wrote down plans in notebook & robbed minimart with knife, giving police incontrovertible evidence

When you generate evidence for the police.

Belmont Lay | December 02, 2020, 06:29 PM

A 16-year-old student from a top school in Singapore wrote down detailed plans in his notebook about robbing a minimart, which came in handy for the police as incontrovertible evidence during investigations after he was arrested for robbery.

Cannot be named

The student, whose school was not revealed and who cannot be named as he is under 18, was sentenced on Nov. 25, 2020 to stay in the Singapore Boys' Hostel for six months as part of his 27 months probation punishment.

He had pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery earlier this year.

His parents also had to put up a bond for S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during the probation period.

The student would have to undergo regular urine tests and psychiatric or psychological assessments for his drug and alcohol use.

The robbery

The robbery was carried out before dawn on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 2020.

The student was decked out in a dark coloured jacket, black cap, and carried a black haversack and knife.

He left home and made his way to newEcon - Lin Da Mini Supermart at Block 110 Lengkong Tiga, a minimart in Kembangan.

Told cashier, "Da qiang"

In the minimart, at about 5:20am, the student told the 58-year-old cashier, "Da qiang", which in Mandarin meant it was a robbery, while pointing the knife at him.

The male cashier, who was standing outside the entrance of the minimart when he was approached, told the teenager that he should go into the shop by himself if he wanted to rob it.

In response, the cashier ran to get help at a nearby 24-hour store.

Stole cigarettes instead

The student, who was alone, then tried to open the shop's cash register, but finding that it was locked, took 42 packets of cigarettes worth S$571.20 instead and ran out.

The events were recorded on the shop's closed-circuit television.

Arrested within a day

The teen returned home and kept the cigarettes in his room.

The police arrested him in less than a day.

The police found the notebook with the student's name and classes written on it, as well as the cigarettes he took.

In the notebook were plans to wear a cap, sunglasses, mask, hoodie, pants and covered shoes to carry out the robbery.

Other details included how he would escape after taking the money in the cash register and cigarettes after flashing the knife.

He even wrote down the prices he planned to sell the cigarettes.

For robbery, he could have been jailed for between three and 14 years and given at least 12 strokes of the cane.

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