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Jail, caning for man who cursed at NEA officers over discarded cigarette, tried to rob store wielding metal rod
When approached by NEA officers, the man cursed and said: "You all every time check, check, check ... you think smoking place easy to find ah."
A sign is seen for a no smoking zone in Singapore's Central Business District. (File Photo: CNA/Calvin Oh)
Lydia Lam
21 Jul 2025 12:41PM (Updated: 21 Jul 2025 12:43PM)
SINGAPORE: A man cursed at National Environment Agency (NEA) officers after he discarded a lit cigarette then some months later tried to rob a cashier with a metal rod as he felt it was better to get arrested by the police.
Chia Yin Xiang Harry, 26, was sentenced on Monday (Jul 21) to two-and-a-half years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
Six strokes were for the attempted robbery with extortion, while the other six were for possessing a knuckleduster.
He pleaded guilty to one charge each of attempted robbery, possession of a weapon and using abusive words against a public servant. Another two charges were taken into consideration.
The court heard that Chia was outside Tiong Bahru Plaza on the morning of Aug 18, 2023.
Two auxiliary police officers attached to NEA spotted Chia throwing a lit cigarette to the ground. This is an offence under the Environmental Public Health Act.
The officers asked Chia for his identity card so they could check if he had committed any previous offence.
Chia replied: "A lot of offence already, so you want (to) charge just charge la."
One of the officers then printed out a notice requiring Chia to attend court and issued it to Chia, who said: "Do you think I got a lot of money to pay for this?"
He then cursed, crushed the notice slip and threw it away in front of the officers.
The officers tried to explain the situation to the accused, said the prosecutor. However, Chia pointed his middle finger at them and continued to curse.
He remained uncooperative when told to calm down, and said: "You all every time check, check, check (vulgarity), you think smoking place easy to find ah."
After cursing again, he left the scene and the officers lodged a police report.
On Mar 14 last year, the police received a call about a man who had been spotted with a knuckleduster in Yishun.
Officers deployed to Block 306, Yishun Central saw Chia with the weapon.
He told them that he had it on him as he was not on good terms with his colleagues, who were allegedly gang members.
He had arranged to meet them there over a work dispute. When the police got there, the supposed meeting had not taken place.
Chia claimed that he had bought the weapon when he was 13 but could not remember where he purchased it from.
ATTEMPTED ROBBERY
A month after this on the night of Apr 13, 2024, Chia left his home to meet his friend at a Housing and Development Board block in Choa Chu Kang.They spent time together until 2am the next day before Chia realised he did not have enough money to buy cigarettes.
He called his grandmother and asked her for money, but she refused to give it to him.
"The accused felt that his grandmother did not care for him and it would be better for him if he got arrested by the police," said the prosecutor.
He went to the UStars Convenience Store at Block 810B, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 7, at about 2.45am.
He told the 53-year-old cashier that he had stolen a bottle of green tea from the store. The cashier told him that no action would be taken against him, if he returned the tea.
Chia left the store only to return with a metal rod. He held it against the cashier's neck, demanding that he open the cash register to give him money.
The cashier told him that he was unable to do so unless a purchase had been made.
Chia then asked for money again, but the cashier told him there were closed-circuit television cameras all around the store. Chia responded that he did not care.
The cashier eventually managed to convince Chia to leave, and a police report was made.
The prosecution sought two-and-a-half years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for Chia, saying that he had shown "a complete lack of regard for lawful authority" in his encounter with the NEA officers.
