The Canadian man who robbed a Standard Chartered bank in Holland Village last July has been jailed for 14 months by Thai authorities.
David Roach was convicted of money laundering, violating the foreign exchange Act and for not declaring he was carrying more than US$20,000 equivalent.
The 28-year-old had his sentenced halved to 14 months because he confessed to his crimes and returned what was left of his stolen money.
He still has time to appeal the sentence.
What Roach didn’t confess to, and was not tried for, was the robbery in Singapore.
If convicted of robbery here, he would be jailed for a minimum of 2 years and given at least 6 strokes of the rotan.
Singapore authorities have failed in their bid to get Roach repatriated to Singapore to stand trial as Singapore does not have an extradition treaty with Thailand.
A fresh bid to repatriate Roach to Singapore may be possible only after he finishes serving his sentence, but the prospect of him facing trial for his crime here remains bleak.
If Roach returns to Canada after his jail term, Singapore will face the same road block with repatriation as Singapore similarly does not have an extradition treaty with Canada.
Roach had allegedly waltzed into the Standard Chartered bank outlet on 7 July, handed a note to the teller which stated this was a robbery and demanded US$30,000.
Getting the loot, he then escaped and boarded a plane to Bangkok, where he was later arrested at a backpacker’s hostel.
