Four teenagers, including a 12-year-old, were arrested on Tuesday (13 October) for their suspected involvement in a robbery and assault of a 64-year-old taxi driver at Sungei Tengah Road, the police said in a news statement.
The youths, which comprise of three boys and a girl, are aged between 12 to 16 years old. The police added that these youths will be charged in court today (14 October).
The statement revealed that the police received a report last Thursday night at around 11.35pm, stating that an elderly male taxi driver had been “assaulted and robbed” by four unknown individuals after he dropped them off at Sungei Tengah Road.
Upon enquiries, and images gathered from CCTV footage and police camera, police officers managed to identify the four suspects and arrested them on Tuesday.
Preliminary investigations also showed that three of the youth involved in this incident were also believed to be involved in a separate case of housebreaking reported along Choa Chu Kang Avenue 7, the police noted.
All four teenagers will be charged with robbery with hurt, and if found guilty, they could face a jail term of between five and 20 years, and at least 12 strokes of the cane.
After reading about this event, many netizens commented on the Facebook page of Channel News Asia calling for a better education and upbringing for these youths. They explained that kids don’t resort to something bad like this overnight. As such, online users noted that the education system should be looked into in order to find ways to help these troubled youths.
One user said that a “social service system” should be “incorporated in school or education institutions” so that there would be a better chance of helping them with issues like bullying, mental health and welfare.
However, some netizens said that parents are being too lenient on their kids. As an example, online users said that there were times when canning was allowed at school but that is no longer in practice as parents have opposed it.
Others said that arresting these underaged youths is not the right move as they should get the opportunity to complete their secondary education. As such, they said that these teenagers should not be sentenced to jail or be caned. Rather, they should be sent back to school to complete their studies, and hopefully they will become good citizens again.
