1. Canadian national David James Roach, the perpetrator of the Standard Chartered Bank robbery which took place on 7 July 2016, has had his sentence of caning remitted on 24 July 2021.
2. Roach fled Singapore to Thailand on the day of the robbery. On 11 January 2018, he was deported from Thailand and arrived in London on the same day. The Singapore authorities sought assistance from the United Kingdom (UK) authorities to arrest Roach, with a view to extraditing him to Singapore to face justice. As part of the extradition proceedings, the Singapore Government undertook to the UK Government that no form of corporal punishment would be carried out on Roach should he be found guilty by a Singapore Court of the offences for which his extradition was sought. This is because the UK’s extradition laws prohibited the extradition of Roach without such an assurance.
3. Roach was eventually extradited from the UK and arrived in Singapore on 17 March 2020 to face charges of robbery and money laundering, having exhausted all legal channels for appeal in the UK against his extradition. On 7 July 2021, Roach pleaded guilty in the State Courts to one count of robbery and one count of money laundering. He was sentenced to a total of five years’ imprisonment and six strokes of the cane.
4. The President, on the advice of the Cabinet, has exercised her powers under Article 22P(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to remit the sentence of six strokes of the cane imposed on Roach. The Singapore Government has thus fulfilled the assurance given to the UK Government. No alternative punishment will be imposed on Roach in lieu of the remitted sentence of caning.
5. It was necessary for the Singapore Government to provide this assurance to the UK Government, or the UK would not have permitted the extradition. Extraditing Roach to Singapore to face justice for his crimes was our top priority. The Singapore Government will do whatever is necessary and permissible within our legal framework to seek justice against those who commit crimes in Singapore, regardless of nationality and where they may have fled to.
