The court is in Singapore On Wednesday, a Canadian man was sentenced to five years in prison for bank robbery in 2016, but due to his extradition clause, he will not be sentenced to six more lashes, the government said.
Singapore’s crime rate is very low, and the bank robbery has sparked a debate about whether this wealthy Southeast Asian city-state is too complacent about security.
David James Roach, 31, fled Singapore on the same day of the robbery, but was later detained in the UK. The authorities agreed to extradite him in March last year, provided that he would not receive corporal punishment.
The government said in a statement: “This guarantee…will not affect Singapore’s long-standing view that such punishment does not constitute torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or violates international law.”
According to Singaporean authorities, Roach stole S$30,450 (US$22,482.28) from a branch of Standard Chartered Bank in July 2016, but flew to Thailand immediately before his identity was confirmed.
He was detained in Thailand, but was subsequently deported to Canada, and was detained by British police after arriving in London in January 2018 at the request of Singapore.
The former British colony Singapore has an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom, but not Thailand.
Canadian professor Hassan Diab was ordered to stand trial in France for the 1980 Paris bombing
Roach handed a piece of paper to the bank teller, saying he was robbing and claiming that he had a gun. He pleaded guilty in court.
Singapore’s crime rate is very low and severe penalties are imposed on many crimes, ranging from drug trafficking and murder to prison and caning for lesser crimes.
Although the Singaporean authorities believe that they have taken a strong stance on deterring criminals, human rights organizations have called on the city-state to abolish the death penalty and corporal punishment.
(Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore, editing by Ed Davies and Simon Cameron-Moore)
