S'porean man, 23, gets 6 months' jail for stealing 8 green tea bottles, beating man up with baton & opening illegal bank accounts

A Singaporean man has been sentenced to six months' jail for a series of crimes he committed between 2019 and 2023, when he was aged between 17 and 21 years old.

Afiq Saifullah Bin Alfian, now 23, pleaded guilty on Jan. 28 to five charges, including three for abetting to a crime by helping a scammer open multiple bank accounts under his name, one for beating another man up and one for stealing eight bottles of Pokka Green Tea from a vending machine.

First 3 charges

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the crime pertaining to the first three charges of helping a scammer open multiple bank accounts under his name occurred in September 2023.

A man, known to the court as "Ray", met Afiq in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, sometime in July 2023, looking to purchase bank accounts for an unspecified reason.

Afiq was offered S$800 per account he opened, but initially turned down the offer as he knew that it was illegal to open an account on behalf of another.

However, he became in need of cash days later and approached Ray again, agreeing to set up accounts on his behalf.

He opened the first account with UOB Bank on Sep. 23, 2023 under his own name, then later provided Ray with the account's internet banking credentials and one-time password (OTP) to access it.

He also knew the account would be used for illegal activities, initially thinking it was for online gambling.

A total of S$24,267 was credited into the account on Oct. 5, 2023, of which S$9,280 was traced to be laundered money from a government official impersonation scam.

S$24,221.73 was also debited from the account on the same day.

Sometime around Sep. 30, 2023, Afiq also provided Ray with the internet banking credentials and OTP for his existing DBS account, purportedly to facilitate faster payment for his assistance.

He never received the promised money from Ray.

Afiq was arrested on Apr. 22, 2024 and released on bail the next day.

He was found guilty of abetting Ray to cheat UOB Bank, which was likely to cause harm to the reputation of UOB, charge sheets stated.

The offence of cheating carries up to three years' imprisonment, or a fine, or both.

He was found to have committed an offence by conspiring with Ray and facilitating Ray's criminal conduct.

For entering into the arrangement with Ray, he faced a fine of up to S$500,000, a jail term of no more than 10 years, or both.

For disclosing the accounts' password and OTP for a wrongful gain, he faced up to S$20,000 in fines, an imprisonment term of not more than five years, or both.

4th and 5th charge

The fourth and fifth charges pertained to crimes Afiq committed in 2019.

According to charge sheets, he, alongside another man, voluntarily caused hurt to a third man by hitting him multiple times with a baton on Oct. 16, 2019, at about 12:45am at the service road of Block 525C Pasir Ris Street 51.

The crime was found to be premeditated and conspired sometime between Oct. 14, 2019 and Oct. 15, 2019 with four others, including Afiq's accomplice.

The victim sustained bruises on his head, right shoulder and back from the attack.

For his actions, Afiq faced up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.

His last charge pertained to his theft of eight bottles of Pokka Green Tea from a vending machine at Punggol Vista Community Centre, valued at S$11.40, on Jul. 4, 2019 alongside seven others.

For this offence, he faced up to three years' jail, a fine, or both.

He was arrested on Oct. 18, 2019 but released on bail the next day, and was not previously charged for both offences.

Judge reject 'youthful folly' excuse

In his court hearing on Jan. 28, Deputy Public Prosecutor Daniel Ong sought six to seven months' imprisonment, citing Afiq's knowledge about the illegal deeds his act of opening the bank accounts were contributing to.

Afiq's lawyer, however, said that her client did not know his knowledge of the aforementioned activities would be an aggravating factor to his case, and sought a lighter sentence of four months' imprisonment.

She also asked for Afiq's young age at the time of his 2023 offence—just three weeks past his 21st birthday—to be considered in his sentencing, and pointed out that he had carried out the offences in desperate need of money to buy diapers and milk for his daughter.

However, the judge rejected this argument, pointing out that he had reoffended in 2023 while still on bail from his 2019 offences.

Nonetheless, Afiq was given a 30 per cent discount on his imprisonment term on account of his pleading guilty early on.

He was eventually handed six months' imprisonment, backdated to his first arrest on Oct. 18, 2019.

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