Canadian convicted of bank robbery in Singapore escapes flogging | World

David James Roach, who robbed a branch of Standard Chartered Bank in 2016, was extradited from the UK to Singapore in 2020 after the Asian city-state assured him he would not be whipped.

Man, 31, pleaded guilty to bank robbery and money laundering, for taking the stolen money from the country, and was convicted on Wednesday (7).

A heritage from the British colonial period, the rattan whip is a common punishment in the Asian city-state and a mandatory penalty for theft.

Corn Singapore’s Home Office and Prosecutor’s Office said they were carrying out “the necessary procedures to fulfill the guarantee given to the UK government”.

Roach broke into a branch and took US $ 30,000 in Singaporean dollars (over R $ 115,000 at current prices) after handing a bank teller a piece of paper saying he was armed and that he had committed a theft.

It was a very unusual theft in a country with extremely low crime rates.

Escape, arrest and extradition

The Canadian first fled to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, where he was arrested for bringing stolen money into the country. But local authorities refused to send him to Singapore because the two countries do not have an extradition agreement.

After his release, Roach was detained at London’s Heathrow Airport on his way back to Canada, and Singapore requested his extradition to the UK.

Singapore and the UK have an extradition treaty, but the British government would only agree to deport Roach if the city-state agreed not to inflict corporal punishment..

British countries abolished flogging as a form of punishment decades ago and refuse to extradite to countries where the penalty still applies.

Despite the deal, the Singapore government said in a statement that flogging “does not constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and does not violate international law”.

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