Police arrest armed robbery suspect who fled State Courts during break in hearing

SINGAPORE — The police have arrested a 50-year-old man who fled the State Courts on Tuesday (Sept 17) when it took a break during his hearing for armed robbery and drug-related offences.

Visvanathan Vadivelu, who had pleaded guilty to armed robbery at a petrol station, had turned up at the State Courts on Tuesday for his sentencing.

But the man, who was on court bail, went missing after a 10-minute break.

His former lawyer A Revi Shanker, whom Visvanathan discharged on Monday, spent more than 10 minutes looking for him in the State Courts premises and also tried to contact him on his mobile phone, but to no avail.

District Judge Kan Shuk Weng issued a warrant of arrest against Visvanathan and revoked his bail of S$70,000.

While armed robbery is a non-bailable offence, the courts have the discretion to offer bail, the police said in a statement on Thursday.

Hence, when the proceedings were adjourned for a court break, the man was able to leave the court room unescorted, because he was still on court bail.

When he failed to return to court after the break, a warrant of arrest was issued and his bail was revoked.

The police arrested the man on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Visvanathan had surprised the court by asking to retract his guilty plea, saying he had been “misled” into admitting to the offences. He also insisted on having his mental health assessed.

He had pleaded guilty last month to one count of armed robbery by day at a Shell petrol station along Upper Bukit Timah Road on July 31, 2017, as well as three other unrelated charges of drug consumption and possession. Five other similar charges were to have been taken into consideration for sentencing.

In response to Visvanathan, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yong charged that he was abusing the court process and had dragged the matter out “until he is past 50 years old and can no longer be caned”.

Offenders who commit armed robbery by day can be jailed up to 10 years and given at least six strokes of the cane.