Three American brothers have pleaded guilty to having knives with them at Orchard Plaza during a confrontation.
Albert Max Martinez-Arizala, 25, Alexis Jesus Martinez-Arizala, 21, and Alejandro Martinez-Arizala Jr, 18, on Thursday each admitted to a charge of being armed with a fatal weapon.
Albert was sentenced to six weeks’ jail, while Alexis was sentenced to four weeks’ jail. Alejandro was sentenced to a short detention order of 14 days.
Deputy public prosecutor Joelle Loy said the brothers arrived in Singapore on July 26.
After checking into a hotel, they visited two nightclubs. They left for a third club in the Orchard area around 5am on July 27 but discovered it was closed.
Albert left his brothers to withdraw some cash.
While waiting, Alexis and Alejandro found themselves at Tai Heng Teochew Porridge Stall at Orchard Plaza.
They approached two women seated at a table at the stall.
Alexis spoke to them while leaning on a movable partition.
Seeing this, the stall owner told him not to lean on the partition, as it was dangerous. Alexis scolded the owner, who responded angrily.
The two brothers left the stall.
When the trio met up, Alexis and Alejandro lied and said that they were attacked by five people for leaning on a food stall partition.
Concerned about being outnumbered, Alejandro suggested that they arm themselves.
The brothers stopped at a nearby supermarket and bought three knives, a frying pan and a bottle of disinfectant bathroom cleaner.
It was about 9am when they returned to the porridge stall, which had about nine patrons then.
The brothers demanded to know where the owner was.
A co-owner of the stall who noticed the weapons alerted the police.
Several patrons also became aware that the brothers had weapons when the knife Albert kept in his back pocket ripped through his trousers and dropped to the floor.
Police officers spotted Alexis and Alejandro at the mall some time around 9.20am. All three were nabbed around 12pm.
DPP Loy said it was fortuitous that even though there were weapons, nobody was hurt.
The trio’s lawyer, A. Rajandran, said that before their trip to Singapore, the three were ganged up on and robbed in Thailand. — The Straits Times/ANN
