- Joined
- Aug 20, 2022
- Messages
- 20,954
- Points
- 113
Reformative training for teen who cheated man of $47k Rolex watch on former stepdad's instructions
Nigel Tan, 19, (above) pleaded guilty to a cheating charge. His former stepdad is still at large.
PHOTO: The Straits Times
PUBLISHED ONAugust 14, 2025 4:49 PM
BYChristine Tan
SINGAPORE — Instructed by his former stepfather to steal a luxury watch worth more than $47,000 from a Carousell user, a teenager "chickened out" three times before finally doing so with the help of a friend.
Nigel Tan, 19, was also promised by the older man a larger share of the proceeds from the sale of the watch.
Nigel was sentenced to reformative training on Aug 14 after pleading guilty to one count of cheating.
His former stepfather, Kyoshirocaeden Tan Lee Yu, 37, is still at large.
Nigel's accomplice, Lucian Tan Keat Hong, 20, was also arrested, but court documents do not state if he has been charged.
Kyoshirocaeden Tan married Nigel's mother when the boy was about three years old. After the couple divorced in 2019, Nigel began living with Tan from 2022. The older man was unemployed, while Nigel worked as a bartender.
On April 22, 2024, Tan told Nigel he needed money badly and asked for the youth's help to cheat someone into handing over an expensive watch, so they could sell it.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin said: "(Nigel) was shocked but agreed after Kyoshirocaeden repeatedly asked for the accused's help and reassured (him) that he would not be caught."
Tan also suggested asking one of Nigel's friends to help with the crime. Later that evening, they met Lucian, who agreed to their plan.
Tan then arranged to meet two people selling their watches on e-commerce platform Carousell on April 23 and 24, 2024.
At both meetings, Lucian and Nigel inspected the watches but did not dare steal them. They returned the watch to the respective seller at each meeting.
On April 25, Tan used Nigel's Carousell account to arrange a meeting with a Rolex watch owner.
The watch owner met the two youths and allowed them to inspect the watch, which was valued at about $47,800.
They negotiated and agreed on a price of $46,000. But once again, Nigel and Lucian did not steal the watch and instead said they would think about it.
When Nigel told Tan they did not follow through with the scheme, the latter promised to increase the young men's share of the sales proceeds.
The two youths met the watch owner again half an hour later. After Lucian was allowed to wear the watch for Nigel to take photographs of it, they fled in different directions from the meeting point. The watch owner, who gave chase but failed to catch them, called the police.
Subsequently, Lucian passed the watch to Tan, who transferred $5,000 into Nigel's girlfriend's bank account.
Nigel did not withdraw his share. Lucian withdrew $1,750 of the sum in the account. Both of them were later arrested.
DPP Tung called for Nigel to be sentenced to reformative training, while his lawyer from the Public Defender's Office, Vadi P.V.S.S., pushed for probation, which would not leave a criminal record.
A probation officer had deemed Nigel not suitable for probation based on factors such as his previous brushes with the law, for which he received conditional warnings.
Vadi said Nigel's previous conditional warnings were not a finding of guilt.
"(For) this particular offence, he was under a very unfamiliar circumstance. The stepfather is there hovering over him and making him do certain things.
"He's no hardened criminal. He chickened out... he didn't want to do it (at first)," said the lawyer.
District Judge Carol Ling found Nigel suitable for a minimum of six months' reformative training instead of probation.
She told him that every action comes with consequences.
But she added: "It doesn't define who you are. It doesn't determine who you're going to be. There will be fresh chapters of your life written after this."
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
