“Friendship is magic,” or so they say.
This line, however, probably doesn’t hold for 36-year-old Abu Zar Ghifari Tarmudi.
Abu resorted to borrowing from loan sharks to treat his friends to meals, but it did not end well. He eventually got sentenced to 32 months’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Food Delivery Rider Borrowed from Loan Sharks to Pay for His Friends’ Meals
On Thursday (2 March), Abu was sentenced to 32 months’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
The 36-year-old faced ten charges, including that for a rash act endangering human life, theft and violations of the Moneylenders Act.
He pleaded guilty to six of the charges.
So where did his problems start?
The 36-year-old earned a daily salary of about $80 to $100. His Achilles heel, however, was that despite his meagre salary, he frequently treated his friends to meals.
We hope these meals aren’t buffets and such.
When the coffers ran low in June 2022, Abu started to borrow money from ah longs to continue funding his habit of treating his friends to meals.
Talk about a bad habit.
Forced Mother to Borrow Money, Throws Items Out the Window Upon Rejection
As Abu could not repay the loan sharks, they started harassing and threatening Abu and his family.
Perhaps it would have been more apt if the loan sharks sent 20 food delivery riders to his home instead.
On 30 August last year, the 36-year-old resorted to asking his mother to help borrow money from his aunt.
When his mother rejected him, the 36-year-old threw items out of their sixth-floor Punggol unit.
He threw three cups, a flask, a bowl, a TV set and a wooden bench out of the window.
Well, he honestly could have sold those to the karang guni for money instead of throwing them out, but to each their own, I guess.
The 36-year-old was eventually charged on 1 September for throwing those items out of his sixth-floor unit.
He later got out on bail.
In October last year, while Abu was out on bail, he, unfortunately, offended again.
This time, the 36-year-old requested to borrow money from another loan shark. However, the loan shark refused to loan Abu the money as Abu still owed about $3,000 to other loan sharks.
Instead, the loan shark suggested that the 36-year-old work for him in harassing other debtors.
Harvey Dent wasn’t kidding when he said you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
For each house he splashed paint at, Abu would get paid $150. For each home he locked the gate of and splashed paint at, Abu would get paid $200.
Compared to his prior daily salary of $80 to $100, this likely appeared to Abu to be his golden ticket.
Over two days in October last year, Abu harassed a total of eight debtors. He even hung raw pork on the gate of a Muslim-occupied unit.