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Three men sentenced to jail, caning for robbery

SINGAPORE — Bangladeshi national Sree Krishna had hatched a plan to rob a fellow Bangladeshi before spending a few days rounding up several Singaporeans to do it together.

SINGAPORE — Bangladeshi national Sree Krishna had hatched a plan to rob a fellow Bangladeshi before spending a few days rounding up several Singaporeans to do it together.

Yesterday, the first three of eight men, who are also repeat offenders, pleaded guilty to robbing Mr Md Rashel Md Sorpan in November last year.

Rubenkumar Lakshmanan, 22, was yesterday sentenced to four years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

A member of the Pak Leong Gang, he had committed the robbery while out on court bail for a prior gang-related offence — being part of an unlawful assembly that attempted to assault members from another gang.

He also pleaded guilty yesterday to the gang-related offence, which had been committed while he was on probation for another robbery offence.

Sathya Kumar, Rubenkumar’s 25-year-old brother, was given four-and-a-half years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane, while fellow gang member Vishnunad Bhaguan, 24, was given four years and two months in jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

Vishnunad also pleaded guilty to being part of the same unlawful assembly and assault as Rubenkumar in June last year.

On the evening of Nov 17 last year, three of Sree Krishna’s accomplices, including Vishnunad, gathered at an open field along Serangoon Road near Angulla Mosque and were preparing to strike when Rubenkumar, Sathya Kumar and two others approached them. When informed of the plot, Rubenkumar’s group, which had already been on the lookout for a potential victim, asked to participate and share the loot equally.

At about 9.30pm, after planning their attack, the group followed Mr Md Sorpan, who was with his uncle and cousin, down Serangoon Road. Sathya Kumar then punched the uncle.

As Mr Md Sorpan ran across the road, Rubenkumar and three accomplices chased and caught him before they punched and kicked him. Rubenkumar seized his laptop bag, which contained almost S$75,000 in cash, a mobile phone, a passport and five bank books, and fled onto a bus, where he was arrested.

His accomplices were arrested after investigations, but only S$5,243 in cash, among other items, were recovered.

District judge Victor Yeo said the three men had little regard for the law and were “not deterred by punishments imposed by their previous offences”.

Thus, he said their sentences ought to “send a strong message that such offences cannot be tolerated”.

The other five accomplices in the robbery, including the mastermind Sree Krishna, have yet to be dealt with by the court.

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