SINGAPORE – A man accused of robbing the Tampines branch of a licensed moneylending firm escaped caning after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of committing theft at the outlet.
On March 7, Jose Manuel Pacheco, 40, was sentenced to a year and four months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count each of theft, criminal intimidation and criminal breach of trust.
The Australian could have been jailed for up to 10 years and received at least six strokes of the cane if he had pleaded guilty to a robbery charge.
Offenders convicted of theft can instead be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
The reasons behind this reduced charge were not disclosed in court on March 7.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jheong Siew Yin, however, told District Judge Shen Wanqin that following an Institute of Mental Health psychiatric evaluation, Pacheco was found to be suffering from major depressive disorder ranging from moderate to severe.
There was also a contributory link between his mental condition and offending behaviour, the court heard.
The DPP added: “(A doctor) assessed the accused to be of sound mind at the time of the offence and was capable of appreciating what he was doing and the wrongfulness of his actions.”
Court documents stated that in 2023, Pacheco was a general manager at a food and beverage firm, working at three of its restaurants.
Despite earning $10,000 a month, he asked the company for a monetary loan in February 2024 as he had to repay his debts to unlicensed moneylenders.
His employer then agreed to lend him $25,300 on March 1 that year.
As part of a deal, Pacheco could repay the sum via monthly deductions of $2,000 from his salary, until the loan was fully settled.
But on May 13, 2024, the company found more than $9,000 missing from a restaurant that he was managing at the time.
When confronted, Pacheco lied to his employer, claiming that he had forgotten to deposit the money.
The company’s representatives later checked a safe at the restaurant and discovered that sealed envelopes containing the eatery’s takings were empty.
Pacheco finally admitted that he had pocketed the funds between March and May 2024 before using his ill-gotten gains to repay his debts. He has not made any restitution to the company.
He later told investigators that in the following month, he hatched a plan to rob the Tampines outlet of a licensed moneylending firm called Accredit as he “needed money desperately” to repay his debts to licensed and unlicensed moneylenders.
On June 3, 2024, he armed himself with a knife, donned a cap and a mask, and went to the outlet at Block 503 Tampines Central 1.
He pointed the weapon at a 32-year-old administrative employee there and ordered her to place cash into his duffle bag. The woman was alone at the time as her colleague was out for lunch.
DPP Jheong said: “Threatened with grievous hurt... the victim complied with the accused’s demand for money and emptied (a bag) of cash, which was then placed into the accused’s... duffle bag.”
Dissatisfied, Pacheco ordered the woman to hand him more money.
She then opened the cupboards and drawers at her workplace to show him that there was no more cash there.
Pacheco left the outlet at around 1.45pm and she notified her colleague, who alerted the police.
Officers arrived at the scene soon after and found Pacheco sitting at the void deck of nearby Block 505.
He admitted what he had done and surrendered to the officers, who found more than $6,000 in cash in his duffle bag.
On March 7, defence lawyer Azri Imran Tan from IRB Law pleaded for his client to be given not more than a year and three months’ jail.
Mr Tan said that Pacheco was sorry for what he had done, adding: “Our client had taken loans of between $2,000 and $3,000 from five loan sharks. While the principal sums had been repaid, the said loan sharks continued to demand illegal interest on the same, with his ‘debt’ ballooning to over $30,000.”
He added that Pacheco had faced “significant and unrelenting harassment”, including daily texts and calls, as well as repeated criminal threats to him and his family.
The lawyer told the court that his client had no money to settle his debts with the loan sharks and payments were due on the day of the theft.
He then decided to target the licensed moneylending firm in Tampines, the court heard.
Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.
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