Man tries to rob elderly money changer with $1 penknife
Armed with a penknife and hydrochloric acid in his bag, a jobless man tried to rob an elderly money changer in Clarke Quay.
During the attempt, the blade fell out and left the robber with only the penknife handle, and he fled.
Yesterday, Syed Muhammad Syed Hassan Alkaff, 60, pleaded guilty to one count each of attempting to commit armed robbery and possession of the vials of acid.
He claimed to have a debt of $20,000 with several moneylenders, and hatched the robbery plan after scouting the money changer at The Central in Clarke Quay on Oct 19 last year.
That evening, he bought a penknife from a night market for $1 and returned to the mall at about 7.30pm the next day.
As the money changer, Mr Amir Hamja Shaik Dawood, 89, was about to leave the unit, Alkaff rushed over and pushed him back in, closing the door.
He took out the penknife and pointed it at the elderly man, saying he wanted money and warned him not to shout.
But Mr Amir shouted and a struggle ensued, during which the blade of the penknife and a pair of sunglasses belonging to Alkaff fell to the floor.
Left with just the handle of the penknife, Alkaff used it to hit Mr Amir on the head and face before fleeing.
Through footage from surveillance cameras and DNA swabs from the sunglasses and blade, Alkaff was traced and arrested two days later.
He claimed he carried acid to protect himself from moneylenders.
Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani told the court Alkaff was a repeat offender. He had previously been given preventive detention, having been released in 2016 after serving seven years behind bars.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim called for a report to assess his suitability for preventive detention. He is expected to be back in court for sentencing on Sept 26.
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