Singaporean Armed Robber and Motorcycle Thief Sentenced to Jail After Being on the Run for Two Decades
59-year-old Foo Siang Thian has finally been sentenced to four years’ jail at the State Courts on 13th June.
(Image taken from Indian Folk)
After robbing a businessman in 1996, he had spent nearly two decades on the run and committing other crimes, like stealing a motorcycle. Pleading guilty to armed robbery and stealing motorcycles, Foo was then disqualified from holding any motor vehicle license for three years after he has served his punishment in prison.
According to Yahoo News, Foo was knee-deep in debt and was suggested by his friend, Lee Ai Eng, to go rob Lee’s former boss, Ang Teck Nguang.
To carry out the robbery, both Foo and Lee stole a motorcycle, and roped in the help of another friend How Meng Yan. How and Foo then armed themselves with knives and approached Ang, managing to extract from him an envelope full of cash.
(Image taken from Daily Echo)
Foo received over $10,000 and then fled to Malaysia to avoid arrest, while Lee and How were apprehended later that year and received jail sentences as well as caning. He returned to Singapore again in 1998 but escaped to Malaysia once more to avoid punishment.
It was only this year in March that Foo surrendered to the Malaysian authorities, though it was noted that he could not be caned for his crimes as he was already above the age of 50 by the time he surrendered himself.
Defence counsel tried appealing to the court with the argument that his client had turned himself in, but judges noted that while Foo did surrender himself, he only did so 22 years after the crime.
District Judge Kenneth Yap said that he “cannot pick and choose his time of imprisonment.”
For committing armed robbery and for his two charges of motorcycle theft, Foo could have been jailed for 2 to 10 years and received at least six strokes of the cane.