Recalcitrant offender jailed, caned for illegally entering Singapore for the fifth time
Source: CNA
SINGAPORE: Despite being convicted four times previously over immigration offences and receiving a total of 25 strokes of the cane, an Indonesian man took a sampan from Batam, Indonesia to Singapore waters and abandoned the boat before swimming to shore.
The 26-year-old man, who goes by the single name of Brick, was sentenced to one-and-a-half years' jail and nine strokes of the cane on Monday (Apr 8).
He pleaded guilty to one count each under the Immigration Act of entering Singapore without a valid pass and entering Singapore without written permission when he had been lawfully sent out of the country.
The court heard that Brick was arrested by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers in March when he could not produce any evidence to show he was staying here legally.
Brick did not have any travel documents on him at the time of his arrest.
He was referred to ICA's investigation branch, which traced his fingerprints to a person with an "adverse record" under the name of Brick.
Brick was last charged and convicted in court in November 2019 for similar immigration offences for entering Singapore without a valid pass and returning illegally after he had been removed from the country.
He was sentenced to a year's jail and eight strokes of the cane and referred to ICA for deportation after serving his jail term.
Before he was deported, Brick was given a written notice informing him that he was banned from entering Singapore from Jul 10, 2020 and that he needed to obtain prior written permission to enter or reside in Singapore in the future.
He acknowledged the notice with his thumbprint and was sent back to Indonesia.
In end-June 2023, Brick wanted to enter Singapore again for reasons not stated in open court.
He left Batam in a sampan and set off towards Singapore. Before he reached Singapore's shoreline, he abandoned his boat and swam to Singapore using an improvised floating device.
He then entered the shoreline off Tuas undetected and stayed in Singapore illegally for about nine months until ICA officers nabbed him.
The ICA prosecutor listed Brick's past convictions, including his November 2019 sentence.
In May 2017, he was sentenced to six weeks' jail and four strokes of the cane for an immigration offence.
In January 2018, he received 14 weeks' jail and six strokes of the cane for the same offence, with another charge of returning to Singapore illegally taken into consideration.
In July 2019, he was sentenced to 18 weeks' jail and seven strokes of the cane for similar offences.
The prosecutor sought the maximum term of six months' jail for the offence of entering Singapore without a valid pass, and nine strokes of the cane, saying Brick was recalcitrant.
He sought another one year's jail for the offence of returning to Singapore illegally when he had been removed from the country, and asked for the two jail terms to run consecutively.
In mitigation, Brick said via a Bahasa Indonesia interpreter that he was "deeply sorry".
"I'm seeking the lightest sentences because I'm also working for my family and my mom currently is ill," he said.
The judge said the man's past criminal convictions showed his recalcitrance and repeated offending, and agreed that the sentence had to be increased.