SINGAPORE — Unhappy that an 18-year-old owed his brother S$100, a 17-year-old confronted him with a samurai sword one night last September.

Muhammad Alif Mustaffa admitted to one charge of criminal intimidation on Thursday (Jan 2).

The court heard that he unsheathed the sword outside the victim’s home in Jurong East, threatening to slash the older boy with the 27cm weapon if he did not come out of the house.

His charge sheet stated that his exact words were: “Come down with us, if not I stab you.” 

Alif, who was sent to a juvenile home in 2017 for committing house trespass and theft, may face imprisonment for his current charge.

But given his young age, Deputy Public Prosecutor Angela Ang called for a probation suitability report before making representations.

Alif, who was not represented by a lawyer, requested to be placed on probation instead of given jail time, telling District Judge Seah Chi-Ling: “My mother is not working. I am the only… support for my mother.”

District Judge Seah agreed to the probation suitability report to be prepared and adjourned the matter to Jan 30 for sentencing.

SWORD TO SCARE VICTIM

Court documents stated that it was one of Alif’s friends, a 17-year-old by the name of Sean Chew Jia Sheng, who had reminded him on the day of the incident on Sept 4 last year that the victim, Muhammad Yasin Danial Rezuan, owed his family money.

Alif then asked four of his friends, aged between 17 and 21, to meet him at Yasin’s flat to support him as he planned to confront Yasin.

He decided to bring along the sword so that he could use it to scare Yasin into repaying the debt.

While at the void deck of Yasin’s block, the group spotted a friend of Yasin’s and instructed him to get Yasin to come down to meet them.

The friend texted Yasin, but there was no reply, so they went up to his unit and shouted for him to come out.

Yasin opened the gate to his unit upon hearing the ruckus.

At this point, two members from Alif’s company, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, began shouting at Yasin about their own personal grievances against him.

In a fit of anger, Alif then unsheathed his sword and directed it at Yasin, threatening to slash him if he did not step out of his unit to talk things out.

Frightened, Yasin told Alif that he needed five minutes to use the washroom first. 

Yasin then quickly closed the door to his unit and called the police.

The group fled when they noticed police cars entering a car park nearby, but they were later traced and arrested.