Man admits to breaking into toilet cubicle, robbing & assaulting woman
He followed her into a female toilet at Pasir Ris Sports and Recreation Centre and burst into the locked toilet cubicle while she was relieving herself.
Zulkarnain Jaafar, 43, snatched the woman's phone from her left shirt pocket, and before she could react, he punched the 22-year-old multiple times on her head and face.
He broke her spectacles, leaving her bleeding from the mouth.
Confronted later by passers-by and the victim, who is not named to protect her identity, he tried to shrug them off and said the woman was crazy.
Last Thursday, Zulkarnain pleaded guilty to robbery with hurt, theft in dwelling, being armed with offensive weapons, and breaching the mandatory aftercare conditions of his remission order.
Three other charges were taken into consideration.
District Judge Sarah Tan called for a preventive detention report at Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Yong's urging.
Preventive detention, which can last for seven to 20 years, is for recalcitrant offenders. They must serve the sentence with no reduction for good behaviour.
Reading out Zulkarnain's long list of prior convictions, from 1994 to 2015, including eight years' corrective training for robbery charges and a drug offence, DPP Chong said the lengthy stints behind bars failed to teach him a lesson.
He told Judge Tan: "The accused is a menace to society and deserves to go to jail not just for his crimes but also for the protection of the public."
"(Preventive detention) is the only sentence that will satisfy that need for justice."
ABSCONDED
The robbery occurred on Aug 28 last year.
Released from prison last June, Zulkarnain was on a remission order and a resident of Selarang Halfway House.
But he had absconded two days prior.
He went to the recreation centre with his wife to seek financial assistance, walking away as she spoke to a social service officer.
At about 3.40pm, he saw the victim and decided to rob her.
He did not immediately enter the first-floor toilet, first pretending to walk towards the adjacent male toilet, then pretending to adjust his pants when a cyclist rode past.
There was no one else in the toilet during the robbery, but the woman managed to chase after Zulkarnain and her shouts for help attracted the attention of two men, who successfully restrained him.
He was arrested by the police.
Days before on Aug 15, Zulkarnain was found outside Aljunied MRT station with two PVC pipes with sharp edges tucked into his waistband.
On Aug 24, while in the halfway house, Zulkarnain also stole from one of his roommates.
DPP Chong said the robbery involved a significant and shocking intrusion into the victim's private space and a high degree of unprovoked violence.
The case has been adjourned for sentencing on Feb 13 and Zulkarnain is back in remand.
He will be liable for enhanced sentences for each of the proceeded charges as he had committed them while on remission.
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