SINGAPORE - Lawyers representing a 17-year-old gang member involved in a slew of criminal cases have called for a probation suitability report, after he was deemed fit to be sent for reformative training.

Despite agreeing to wait for the report, Deputy Principal District Judge Kessler Soh indicated that he would not be inclined to sentence the boy to probation, given the severity and number of his offences.

Young offenders ordered to undergo reformative training are detained in a centre, where they have to observe a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling. 

The teen’s defence lawyers, Invictus Law’s Cory Wong and Josephus Tan, said the probation report would be a more holistic view of their client’s behaviour and could benefit his rehabilitation.

The boy, who was between 15 and 16 years of age at the time of his offences, was facing 16 charges in all, over voluntarily causing hurt, rioting, sex with a minor, unlawful assembly and theft.

The teenager has pleaded guilty to six charges, while the other 10 will be taken into consideration for sentencing. Sentencing has been adjourned to May 28 to await the probation report.

On June 24, 2022, the teenager went to Plushies Island, an arcade at Jurong Gateway, with his friends. While there, the boy saw his friend take a soft toy that had been placed on top of a claw machine.

Following his friend’s lead, the boy took an identical soft toy, valued at $90, and exited the arcade without paying for it.

Around an hour later, the boy returned to the arcade alone and spotted a giant bear soft toy, valued at $120, left unattended on top of a machine.

He took the toy and ran from the shop without paying for it. Both acts were caught on closed circuit television installed inside Plushies Island.

The offender was charged with rioting over three separate incidents in 2022 in which he and others beat up teenage victims.

On July 4, 2022, the teenager was part of a group with eight other people that assaulted a 15-year-old Vietnamese boy at a multi-storey carpark, leaving the victim with abrasions, swelling on his lip, and lacerations on his eyebrow and ear.

The offender, who was arrested two days later, admitted to kicking and punching the boy along with friends from his group. He was released on bail.

On Aug 18, 2022, the teen spoke to his gang’s headman about his grievances with another 15-year-old boy, and asked for permission to beat up the other boy.

The headman helped to arrange a meeting with the other boy. When the other boy arrived, the teen offender kicked him in the stomach.

They then went to a multi-storey carpark near Ang Mo Kio Central, where the offender kicked, punched and pulled the boy to the ground before three of the offender’s friends joined in. The group stopped attacking only when the boy fell unconscious.

On Nov 11, 2022, the teen was in a group of four other people when they bumped into another 14-year-old boy at an arcade near Nex shopping mall in Serangoon.

The group confronted the boy over a prior incident, then assaulted him twice, both at nearby carparks. The group only stopped when the offender saw the boy was bleeding, after kicking and punching his face.

Meanwhile, from Dec 22, 2022, to sometime in January 2023, the boy had unprotected sex on at least four separate occasions with his then girlfriend. She was 13 at the time.

Court documents did not reveal how he was caught for the offences.