SINGAPORE — Wearing his wife’s black dress to avoid being identified, a man held a kitchen knife near a 74-year-old cashier’s face in an attempt to rob a convenience store.
Mahmoud Abdeltawwab Riad Abdelhak, 39, was sentenced on Tuesday (April 23) to two years and six months’ jail and six strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to one charge of attempted robbery and one charge of theft in dwelling.
While he was on station bail, Mahmoud had entered a 24-hour convenience store in Toa Payoh on July 15, 2023, dressed in his wife’s dress, a black headscarf, grey arm socks and a black mask.
He dressed as such and brought a kitchen knife with him as he intended to rob the minimart without being identified.
The then 74-year-old cashier was reading a newspaper when Mahmoud entered the store at around 1.22am. Mahmoud walked behind the cashier and held the knife near her face, and said: “Don’t shout”.
The cashier who was startled and frightened, stood up and turned around before beginning to scream when she saw Mahmoud. This interaction was caught on the convenience store’s closed-circuit television (CCTV), which showed Mahmoud brandishing the knife in the cashier’s face.
As he was about to instruct the woman to give him the money in the cash register, he lost his nerve due to the woman’s screams and fled from the convenience store.
To evade detection, he disposed of his wife’s clothes and kitchen knife in two rubbish bins on his way home.
The convenience store owner called for police assistance after watching the CCTV footage later that morning, and the man was arrested on the same day.
Despite the CCTV evidence and his wife’s clothes being recovered from the rubbish bins, Mahmoud denied committing the offence and claimed he was “out for a jog” at the time, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Huo Jiongrui.
STEALING SISTER-IN-LAW’S RINGS
In a separate incident in November 2022, Mahmoud had stolen his sister-in-law’s engagement and wedding rings and pawned them.
His wife’s sister and her husband moved into Mahmoud and his wife’s public housing flat while they were awaiting the completion of their Build-to-Order flat.
On Nov 9, while the sister and her husband were at work, the man entered their locked bedroom with a key he had, and took his sister-in-law’s 18K gold engagement ring which was valued at around S$1,300.
He then went to a Taka Jewellery outlet and pawned the ring for S$70.
A week later, when the couple were again at work, Mahmoud entered their bedroom and stole his sister-in-law’s wedding ring, an 18K white gold diamond ring, valued at around S$1,899.
He then pawned the wedding ring for S$177 at a Maxi-Cash Retail outlet. The woman had noticed her engagement ring was missing earlier, and after realising her wedding ring was also missing, the couple confronted Mahmoud.
They asked if he had a key to their bedroom but he denied it. The sister-in-law then secretly installed a CCTV camera in their bedroom, which provided her with a live feed via a mobile application and allowed her to speak through a speaker in the camera.
On Nov 21, while the couple were at work, Mahmoud entered their bedroom using the key and rummaged through their belongings, finding the husband’s Seiko wristwatch.
As Mahmoud was packing the wristwatch into its original box, his sister-in-law, who had been watching him on the live feed through her mobile phone, asked: “What are you doing?” through the CCTV camera.
Startled by the question, Mahmoud returned the wristwatch and the box to its original locations and quickly exited and locked the bedroom door.
The woman then sent her husband and sister the footage of Mahmoud in the bedroom. When his wife confronted him about the footage over WhatsApp, Mahmoud evaded her questions and complained he was short of S$2,500 after the couple entered his room to clean his air-conditioning unit.
He got angry as his wife continued to press him for answers, and threatened to cut the face of his sister-in-law’s husband.
Frightened, the sister-in-law lodged a police report. He was arrested on Nov 22, 2022, when pawn tickets relating to the rings were found in his wallet.
He, however, maintained his innocence and claimed the rings had belonged to him, and claimed he had entered the couple’s room to check for marijuana.
Both rings were recovered but no restitution has been made by Mahmoud to both stores, said DPP Huo.
The prosecution sought a sentence of 31 to 35 months’ jail and six strokes of the cane, citing the man’s “contempt for police authority” as he had attempted to rob the store while on bail.
As the man had taken pains to dress in his wife’s clothes to avoid detection, DPP Huo said that the offence was premeditated and the victim was a relatively elderly cashier.
“During investigations, he blatantly lied that he was out for a jog at the time of the offence despite the evidence against him,” added DPP Huo.
Anyone convicted of attempted robbery can be jailed for up to seven years and receive at least two years' jail and six strokes of the cane.
Those who commit theft in dwelling can be jailed for up to seven years and be fined.
