Singapore jails Canadian bank robber David James Roach – but spares him a caning

David James Roach robbed US$22,000 from a Standard Chartered branch in 2016 before fleeing to Thailand, where he was jailed for importing stolen cash
He was later detained in Britain while en route to Canada, and extradited to Singapore under the condition that he not face corporal punishment

Singapore

Agence France-Pressein Singapore

Published: 2:02pm, 8 Jul 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

A Canadian man who staged a rare bank robbery in Singapore has been sentenced to five years in jail, but will escape a caning because of an agreement that allowed his extradition.

David James Roach, who robbed a Standard Chartered Bank branch in 2016, was extradited to Singapore last year from Britain after the city state offered assurances he would not be flogged.

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge of bank robbery and another charge of money laundering for taking the stolen money out of the country.

Roach used a threatening note to rob US$22,000 from a Standard Chartered branch in Singapore. Photo: Reuters

A court on Wednesday handed down the jail term and six strokes of the cane – a mandatory punishment in the city state for robbery.

But Singapore’s interior ministry and attorney general’s chambers said they were working “through the necessary procedures to fulfil the assurance given to the UK government” that Roach will be spared caning.

Roach strolled into the bank and took S$30,000 (US$22,000) after presenting a threatening note, a rare robbery in a country with one of the world’s lowest crime rates.

He fled to Bangkok, where he was jailed on charges related to bringing the stolen cash into Thailand but authorities refused to send him to Singapore as the countries do not have an extradition treaty.

After his release, he was detained at London’s Heathrow Airport while in transit en route to Canada, and Singapore requested that he be deported to the city state.

Singapore and Britain have an extradition treaty, but London would only deport Roach if the city state agreed he would not face corporal punishment.

Flogging with a heavy rattan cane, a legacy of British colonial rule, is a common punishment in Singapore.

But Britain abolished caning as a punishment for criminals decades ago, and refuses to extradite anyone to a country where the punishment exists.