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SINGAPORE: Unhappy with a 16-year-old boy who was purportedly harassing a female friend, a youth confronted him, placed a parang against his neck and threatened to cut him.
The offender, who was 17 years old at the time, also ordered the victim to strip naked and forced him to drink from a bottle containing the urine of two of his accomplices.
The victim complied out of fear, and the offender, whom the prosecution referred to as A1, recorded a video of him doing so.
A1, who turned 18 in September 2023, pleaded guilty on April 23 to one count each of criminal intimidation and being a member of an unlawful assembly.
Details about him and the victim cannot be revealed due to a gag order.
A1’s four accomplices were identified in court documents as B1, B2, B3 and B4. They were the offender’s friends and were between 15 and 17 years old at the time of the offences in March 2023.
The names of all six boys have been redacted from court documents.
A1 met his four friends in March and told them he wanted to beat up with victim for “harassing” a female friend.
He told them he would use her Instagram account to lure the victim to meet him. They agreed to accompany him to the meeting.
On March 16, he messaged the victim from the girl’s Instagram account to meet “her” in four days’ time at a public toilet in Bukit Batok for “sex”.
On the day, A1 and his accomplices met at a carpark where he told B2 and B3 to urinate into a bottle.
He then hid in a toilet while his friends waited for the victim at a nearby staircase. When the boy arrived at the scene at around 6.30pm, he spoke to B3, who was his schoolmate.
After making his way to the toilet, he knocked on its door. A1 pulled him inside and his accomplices followed him.
A1 then threatened the victim with the parang.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Pavithra Ramkumar told the court: “A1... began smoking and ordered the victim to strip naked. He told the victim that if he was not naked before he finished his cigarette, he would slash the victim with the parang.
“The victim obeyed as he was scared. While the victim was stripping, A1 recorded a video of the victim with his phone and ordered the victim to look at the camera,” the DPP said.
After ordering the victim to kneel before him, A1 rained blows on the boy before telling him to apologise to the female friend. A1 and B4 recorded videos of the boy doing so, the court heard.
Soon after, A1 made the victim drink the urine in the bottle. “A1 filmed the victim drinking urine. A1 intended to forward the video to his female friend and thereby injure the victim’s reputation,” DPP Pavithra said.
According to court documents, B1 punched and kicked the victim several times before A1 told the victim to put on his clothes.
After the six boys left the toilet, A1 warned the victim he would attack him if the police were alerted. A1 then forwarded the videos to the female friend.
When the victim returned home at around 9.20pm, his father noticed he was injured and took him to the National University Hospital, where the boy was found to have facial bruises and scratches.
The victim made a police report on March 21, 2023.
On April 23, the court called for reports to assess A1’s suitability for probation and reformative training.
Young offenders ordered to undergo reformative training will be detained in a centre to observe a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling.
He will be sentenced on June 18. - The Straits Times/ANN
