Electrician sentenced to jail and caning for stealing rifle

[Mukai]

Electrician sentenced to jail and caning for stealing rifle

By Alvina Soh | Posted: 29 November 2012 1910 hrs

Singapore: An electrician has been sentenced to jail and caning for stealing a rifle from a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) specialist cadet trainee at Pasir Laba Camp.

Mohammad Ridzuan Jamari, 31, was sentenced to a jail term of five years and three months, as well as three strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to one count of theft and another count of drug consumption.

Mohammad Ridzuan, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, committed the offences on May 8 this year.

He was deployed to work at a construction site in Pasir Laba Camp, where about 100 specialist cadets were on Standard Obstacle Course training nearby.

Mohammad Ridzuan ran beside 22-year-old Mr Kang Tai, as he was running alone towards the finish line.

Mohammad Ridzuan, who was holding a 25-cm long screwdriver, grabbed his shoulder and shouted at him.

Both men struggled but Mohammad Ridzuan managed to snatch the rifle from Mr Kang.

He held onto the rifle for two seconds before it was taken away by Mr Kang's platoon commander.

Mohammad Ridzuan was arrested later.

Investigations revealed that he had also taken drugs at the army camp.

In an earlier mitigation plea, Mohammad Ridzuan was said to be "very confused" at the time of the incident and had imagined that there were attackers.

His lawyer, Mr K Mathialahan, pointed out that he had no intention of harming anyone, and did not know how to use a rifle.

The court also heard that Mohammad Ridzuan's schizophrenia was "causal to the offence" and that he would not have committed the offence if he was not suffering from the illness.

District Judge Lim Keng Yeow acknowledged that Mohammad Ridzuan's mental health issues had a significant impact on his actions.

He said Mohammad Ridzuan had grabbed the rifle "out of a mixture of confusion and desperation" in order to "get help and to ward off his imagined attackers".

He added that while Mohammad Ridzuan did seize the rifle forcibly and held on to it momentarily, it was not his main intention to possess it.

The judge said there were no indications that Mohammad Ridzuan had entered the camp with plans to commit the offence.

The court also heard that there was "little likelihood" that he had planned to flee with the rifle.

- CNA/lp

 

[Hudson]

Moral of the story: The screwdriver is more powerful than the rifle.

Cadet very sway. Will he get charged?

 

[lianbeng]

lianbeng still remembers my Section Commander always said: treat ur rifle like ur wife! 1 day it will protect u if u sayang it now!

 

[HARDAttack]

Moral of the story: The screwdriver is more powerful than the rifle.

Cadet very sway. Will he get charged?

Yes, I believe the cadet will be charged. To lose your rifle is a court martial case.

 

[lianbeng]

Yes, I believe the cadet will be charged. To lose your rifle is a court martial case.

lianbeng adds 2 cents: thot should be 7 years in changi holiday resort?

 

[Mukai]

Man who snatched rifle from soldier gets jail, cane

November 30, 2012 - 12:29am

By: Rennie Whang

PICTURE: Singapore Police Force

Armed with a 25cm-long screwdriver, the electrician ran alongside the cadet at the Standard Obstacle Course site at Pasir Laba Camp.

Exhausted after completing most of the gruelling course, specialist cadet trainee Kang Tai, 22, was stunned at suddenly having a running partner in Mohammad Ridzuan Jamari, 31.

The electrician then lunged forward and after a struggle, grabbed the cadet’s SAR-21 rifle. Fortunately, instructors intervened and the weapon was retrieved.

Read the full report in The New Paper on Friday (Nov 30).

 

[CELLULAR]

Instructors intervened....did not describe how they intervened and how many of them.

 

[Akechi Mitsuhide]

Instructors intervened....did not describe how they intervened and how many of them.

 

[hokkien]

The Straits Times
Sunday, Dec 02, 2012
SINGAPORE - An electrician, fearful that he might be assaulted, ran to get help from soldiers who were training nearby and grabbed a rifle from one of them.

On Thursday, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow sentenced Mohammed Ridzuan Jamari, 31, to one year's jail for theft of the rifle. He was also given five years and three months and three strokes for drug consumption.

Ridzuan had admitted to snatching the SAR 21 rifle from specialist cadet trainee Kang Tai, 22, at Pasir Laba Camp and taking methamphetamine or Ice, on May 8 this year.

On Nov 16, Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang told a community court that Mr Kang was undergoing training with about 100 others at the camp on May 8 when he ran towards the finish line. Ridzuan ran beside him, grabbed his shoulder and shouted at him.

Ridzuan, who had gone to the camp with two others to service and test transformers at a construction site, then grabbed the rifle from Mr Kang, who put up a struggle.

Ridzuan's lawyer, Mr K. Mathialahan, said in mitigation that his client, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was terrified and panicked when he heard someone saying "potong dia", which means "cut him'' in Malay.

He then grabbed a screwdriver before running towards the soldiers and pleading with one of them to help him, but he was ignored.

At that time, he still heard voices from behind and thought he was being chased. That was when he grabbed the rifle from Mr Kang, who was in front of the person he had sought help from.

The platoon commander managed to take away the rifle from Ridzuan. Police arrived and arrested him.

A psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health felt that it was Ridzuan's schizophrenia that caused him to react in that way that day.

Ridzuan has previous convictions for theft, causing hurt with dangerous weapon, rioting and drug-related offences. He was last given seven years' corrective training in 2002.

Judge Lim said the courts take a very serious view of any offence involving firearms. No attempt to obtain unauthorised possession of firearms will ever be taken lightly.

"An offender who takes hold of firearms by force, especially, must expect to face the full force of the law and expect to receive severe penalties, including caning," he said.

But he noted that Ridzuan's mental health issues had affected his entire state of mind and his choices and actions at the time.

Both sentences are to run concurrently.