doctor_slump 2008-7-7 10:21 PM
Jilted soldier gets jail for rifle revenge plot
A Singapore soldier dumped by his girlfriend was jailed for nine years and two months and sentenced to 18 strokes of the cane on Monday for stealing a rifle and plotting to kill her.
The 20-year-old conscript, who escaped from his army camp, was caught in a toilet of a popular shopping mall last September armed with a rifle and eight bullets.
His escape with live ammunition and a rifle from a guarded army camp caused embarrassment for the Singapore government that prides itself on the city-state's low crime rate.
Owning guns is illegal in Singapore. Anyone caught illegally possessing arms or ammunition faces a maximum jail term of 10 years and six strokes of the cane.
Local media reported on Monday that the conscript was emotionally traumatised after being dumped by his girlfriend of four years and schemed to steal the rifle to kill her.
"He was under a lot of emotional pressure and was very confused," the Straits Times website quoted K. Mathialahan, the conscript's lawyer, as saying.
