A 60-year-old Singaporean man was delivering fresh poultry to an eatery along Chander Road when a man drinking beer came up to him to ask for some ice from his lorry.

He explained to the beer-drinking man that the ice cubes, which were mixed with poultry, were not meant for consumption, but the man took some and put them in his drink anyway.

After leaving for 20 minutes, the beer-drinking man returned to the lorry, grabbed a meat hook from the vehicle, pointed to the gold chain on the neck of the delivery man, and said, "Rob."

Failed

The incident happened on Dec. 10, at about 3:50am along Chander Road.

According to court documents, Haridass Vijakumar, a 33-year-old Malaysian, had been drinking with his friends in an alley leading to Chander Road.

After getting ice cubes from the victim's lorry, Vijakumar continued drinking with his friends, who left at around 3:51am.

Two minutes later, he returned to the lorry, decided to remove a meat hook from it, and waited for the victim, who was pushing crates into the eatery, to return.

When the victim returned, Vijakumar pointed the meat hook at the gold chain on the victim's neck, saying he wanted to rob him.

The gold chain had a jade pendant on it, and their total value was reported to be almost S$7,000.

When the victim refused to hand over the pendant, the accused snatched it.

During the ensuing struggle, the victim was able to snatch his pendant back.

The accused then fled when the victim shouted for help.

The victim subsequently called the police.

Was drinking for more than 12 hours

The police arrested Vijakumar on the same day at around 3:15pm at Weld Road.

In his police statements, he claimed that he had been drinking since 10am the day before and was "intoxicated".

The man was charged with theft using criminal force and with using criminal force to obstruct a public servant from carrying out his duty.

He pleaded guilty to one of the charges, with the other taken into consideration.

He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and two strokes of the cane on Aug. 19.

Top images via Singapore Police Force and Google Streetview