Straits Times, Singapore, 25 May 2001

2 youths stabbed and robbed cabby

They also snatched his $550 cell-phone after the ride

TWO youths stole a knife which one of them used to stab and rob a 57-year-old taxi driver at a carpark in East Coast Park.

Mr Cheang Mng Lye was warded for two days at Changi General Hospital.

A district court heard yesterday that Muhammad Qadrin Abdullah, 20, and Mohamed Rashid Ramzan Shah, 17, had flagged down Mr Cheang's Comfort taxi at Pasir Ris at about 9 pm on March 19, after stealing a knife from a supermarket.

After boarding the vehicle, they asked him to drive them to East Coast Park.

When the youths reached their destination, they asked the taxi driver to continue driving along East Coast Park Service Road on the pretext of looking for their friends.

Mohamed Rashid also borrowed Mr Cheang's mobile phone to call his girlfriend.

Mr Cheang's two passengers then directed him to a carpark.

When they arrived, Muhammad Qadrin, who was sitting behind the cabby, suddenly whipped out the knife and stabbed Mr Cheang once in the back. He demanded money.

Scared and in pain, Mr Cheang handed over $120 to Mohamed Rashid, who was seated next to him and who snatched the cabby's mobile phone worth about $550.

The assailants then fled towards East Coast Park Expressway, throwing away the knife.

The court heard that they managed to flag another taxi and took it to Block 401, Hougang Avenue 3. There, the duo divided the loot, with Muhammad Qadrin keeping Mr Cheang's mobile phone.

But the long arm of the law caught up with them.

Police arrested Mohamed Rashid after tracing his girlfriend through the call he had made earlier on the cabby's phone.

Yesterday, Muhammad Qadrin was sentenced to seven years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to robbery with hurt and theft. Mohamed Rashid also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on May 31.

Copyright @ 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Straits Times, Singapore, 26 May 2001

Serial car-jack gangster gets jail and caning

By Alethea Lim
Court Correspondent

WHEN Lim Lye Kim saw a Mercedes-Benz or BMW he wanted, he went after it. He would also take a Mazda and a Honda if it was handy.

Lim and his two accomplices would force the drivers to stop, rob them, and drive off in their cars, which they sold. The serial robbers had knives and used chemical sprays to blind their victims temporarily.

Last May, Lim, 24, and his cronies planned and executed three armed robberies in just two days. Lim had been involved in at least seven robberies since November 1998 and stole five cars.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to being with an accomplice who carried a gun unlawfully, robbery with hurt and attempted armed robbery with hurt. Seven other charges were taken into consideration.

Sentencing Lim to a total of 26 years behind bars and ordering that he be caned 24 times - the maximum - Judicial Commissioner Choo Han Teck told him:

'Your victims were put in fear of harm and many were indeed harmed...there is nothing in your mitigation plea that suggests leniency is deserving.'

Lim had been jailed and caned in 1997 for possessing an offensive weapon.

On May 28 last year at 1.45 am, the gang forced Mr Ng Siong Tee, 56, to stop his Mazda 929 car near Newton Circus and took his Rolex watch. An accomplice zapped Mr Ng with the spray and drove off in the Mazda. Lim got away in the gang's car.

The next day, at 1 am in Bukit Timah Road, they rammed a Mercedes-Benz driven by Mr Chew Peng Ee, 24, a web designer, and demanded his keys.

He refused, so they stabbed him five times. But he had locked the car when he got out so they could not take it. Mr Chew survived the attack.

About two hours later, the gang blocked 37-year-old businessman Chia Cheong Bee's grey BMW at a slip road leading to Choa Chu Kang Way.

They tailed Mr Chia when he reversed and sped off to a coffeeshop at Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1.

One of the gang fired an automatic pistol a total of three times before a shocked Mr Chia handed over more than $500.

The gang then fled when they saw a police car.

Last October, one of Lim's accomplices, Kaw Teck Guan, 36, was jailed for five years and given 18 strokes of the cane for robbery and attempted robbery. The third man has been charged but his case has not been heard yet.

Copyright @ 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.