SINGAPORE — A week after running away in the middle of his court hearing while out on bail, 50-year-old Visvanathan Vadivelu was finally sentenced on Thursday (Sept 26) for committing armed robbery at a petrol station. 

He was taken to a district court in prison garb and shackles, having been arrested a day after absconding and put in remand.

Once again, he asked to be sentenced in a week or two and be released again on bail in the meantime to settle family matters and run personal errands. 

“And I’d like you to sentence me to IMH (the Institute of Mental Health),” he told District Judge Kan Shuk Weng.

She told him that was not a sentencing option before eventually ordering him to serve 11-and-a-half years behind bars. 

This includes nine months’ jail in lieu of the maximum 24 strokes of the cane, as offenders above 50 years old cannot be caned by law.

‘I WAS HEARING VOICES’

Visvanathan pleaded guilty last month to one count of armed robbery by day at a petrol station, as well as three other unrelated charges of drug consumption and possession. 

Five other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

He robbed a Shell petrol station along Upper Bukit Timah Road on July 31, 2017, when he was 48 years old.

Visvanathan was set to be sentenced last Tuesday (Sept 17) but he absconded during a 10-minute break.

He was eventually arrested the next evening in his home when his mother called the police. 

Rejecting his request for bail on Thursday, District Judge Kan agreed with Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yong that Visvanathan was a high flight risk. 

She also told Visvanathan that he had had time to spend with his mother after pleading guilty more than a month ago.

“You did not actually surrender to the police… and you have not given me a reason why during the short break, you failed to return,” the judge questioned.

“I was hearing voices. The voices started asking me to go back home but now I’m okay,” he replied.

For committing armed robbery by day, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and given at least six strokes of the cane.

WHAT HE DID

The court previously heard that he had hatched a plan to rob a petrol station as he was desperate for cash.

Wearing a jacket, gloves, sunglasses and a black motorcycle helmet to conceal his identity, he threatened a 22-year-old cashier at the Shell petrol station with a kitchen knife and took S$1,193 from the cash register.

Closed-circuit television cameras at the petrol station captured his actions.

After the robbery, he rode to Sembawang and deposited S$500 of the stolen money into his bank account in two transactions.

He was arrested later that day in his flat where another S$499 was seized. When questioned, he said that he spent the remaining S$194 on petrol, food and cigarettes.

He was later released on court bail but re-offended again barely two months later. 

On Sept 15, 2017, he left bags containing drugs in a toilet at Clementi Neighbourhood Police Centre.

Police officers found the items there after he left and arrested him at a Clementi car park later that evening. He admitted to consuming heroin and methamphetamine.

This was not his first drug-related offence. 

In 1998, he was sentenced to five years’ jail and given three strokes of the cane for taking morphine.

DPP Chong told the court that from 2005 and 2009, he had “quite consistently” committed theft offences as well.