Canadian who robbed Standard Chartered branch in 2016 jailed
A Canadian man who escaped with more than $30,000 after robbing a Standard Chartered Bank branch in Holland Avenue on July 7, 2016, was sentenced to five years' jail and six strokes of the cane yesterday.
However, he may not be caned as the Government had assured Britain that any corporal sentence would not be carried out to secure his extradition, and said last night that it was working through the necessary procedures to fulfil this assurance.
David James Roach, now 31, who fled Singapore soon after the robbery, had earlier pleaded guilty to one count each of robbery and moving his criminal gains out of Singapore.
During submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutor Marcus Foo called on Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan to sentence Roach to six years' jail and nine strokes of the cane.
The court heard that Roach arrived in Singapore on a social visit pass on June 29, 2016, and he went on to stay in different hostels in the Chinatown area.
He then planned the heist and carried it out on July 7 that year.
Roach took a flight out of Changi Airport a few hours after the robbery. He was tracked via security footage and DNA from the room where he was staying. A bank ticket stub revealed his identity.
Roach's conviction brings to a close a long saga during which he ended up behind bars in Thailand and was later detained in Britain, where he fought a legal battle in a bid to escape extradition.
Roach was extradited to Singapore from Britain in March last year and charged in court on March 17 last year with robbery and money laundering.
Under Singapore laws, robbery is an offence for which caning is mandatory.
Britain abolished caning in 1948.
The Attorney-General's Chambers and the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a joint statement last night that "as part of the extradition proceedings, the Singapore Government undertook to the UK government that any sentence of corporal punishment imposed by a Singapore court on Roach for the offences for which he was extradited would not be carried out".
"This is because the UK's extradition laws would prohibit the extradition of Roach to Singapore in the absence of such an assurance."
For robbery, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and receive at least six strokes of the cane.
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