Man sentenced to jail, caning for role in armed robbery of moneylender shop in Jurong East

SINGAPORE — A 22-year-old man was sentenced on Thursday (Feb 3) to two years' jail and six strokes of the cane for his role in an armed robbery of a licensed moneylender in Jurong East. 

Tusheintar Segaran, a permanent resident, on Thursday pleaded guilty to one charge of robbery, with two other charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

In late 2020, he and two others fled from moneylending shop OT Credit with S$48,000 in cash. The moneylender became a target of a separate armed robbery incident in April 2021, barely half a year after the first one.

Court documents stated that Tusheintar and two other co-accused — Karrtik Stalniraj and Kotta Kumar Jeswanth — planned to target the shop because it had only two female shop assistants working there.

At noon on Nov 19, 2020, Tusheintar was tasked to enter the shop and signal to others outside if the coast was clear. 

However, he did not proceed as planned and left the shop.

The three men then struck at around 4pm, with Tusheintar serving as a lookout outside the shop. 

Kotta entered the premises and grabbed the shop assistant by her hair. Brandishing a karambit knife in one hand, he demanded that she throw cash into a grey haversack he was wearing in front of his body.

Kotta instructed the shop assistant, Ms Candy Yang Siqi, not to shout for help.

Karrtik went about searching the shop for more money. Tusheintar stayed at the entrance of the premises.

Kotta then locked Ms Yang in a back office and the trio fled on foot with S$48,000. Tusheintar later received S$14,000 from the loot.

On Thursday, pro bono defence lawyer Nelson Chee told the court that while it was an armed robbery, Tusheintar did not use a weapon at all during the incident and had served mainly as a lookout.

Mr Chee added in mitigation that the proceeds that Tusheintar had taken were recovered by the police and this is his client’s first brush with the law.

In delivering his sentence, District Judge Lim Wen Juin noted the high degree of premeditation involved in the group robbery.

Although he acknowledged that Thusheintar had served as a lookout, District Judge Lim said that it was an instrumental role, which enabled the other co-accused to carry out the crime.

His co-accused, Kotta, pleaded guilty in January last year and was ordered to undergo reformative training as he was under 21 years of age during the time of the offence.

Karrtik's case is still pending before the courts.