OT Credit robbed twice in five months
On Nov 19 last year, three men donning face masks walked into licensed moneylending firm OT Credit in Jurong Gateway Road.
One of them, a teenager, lunged across the table and grabbed the shop manager by her hair while holding a karambit knife.
The robbers took about $48,000 in cash and locked the manager, Ms Candy Yang, who was the only one present at the time, inside a back room before fleeing the scene.
THOUGHT OF HER KIDS
"As a mother, the first thing I thought of when I saw the knife was my kids, and what would happen to them if something had happened to me," Ms Yang, 35, a mother of three, later told The Straits Times.
The police were alerted at 4.15pm that day, after which they identified and arrested Kotta Kumar Jeswanth, now 19, and two of his alleged accomplices, Karrtik Stalniraj and Tusheintar Segaran, both 22, within 12 hours.
About $30,000 has been recovered.
A fourth man, Arunasalam Kannan, 27, who allegedly disposed of the knife believed to have been used in the commission of the offence, was also arrested.
Kotta, who had earlier committed a range of offences including assault and was awaiting his probation suitability report when he committed the robbery, was sentenced on Feb 18 this year.
He was ordered to undergo reformative training for a minimum of one year, after pleading guilty in January to offences including armed robbery and wrongfully restraining a woman while committing the crime.
The cases involving the other three are still pending.
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