Can You be Guilty of Attempting to Commit a Crime in Singapore?

Last updated on July 24, 2026

In April 2026, a 24-year-old Italian man, Deepak Singh, made headlines when he was sentenced to seven months in jail for attempting to cheat The Watch Room – a Singaporean watch retailer.

Deepak had believed his Rolex GMT Saru was fake and passed it off as an authentic timepiece. In an attempt to cheat The Watch Room, he sold his Rolex GMT Saru in exchange for three other Rolex watches. At the point of the sale, Deepak presented a forged soft copy of his passport to evade criminal liability and any possible taxes. Subsequently, when The Watch Room had doubts about the Rolex GMT Saru’s authenticity, they contacted Deepak to return to their store. However, Deepak had instead booked a flight to Rome that same night. He was later arrested at Changi Airport.

In an unexpected turn of events, the Rolex GMT Saru was later certified as authentic and original by the Rolex Service Centre. Even though the Rolex Saru was authentic, the court still found Deepak liable for attempting to cheat The Watch Room. This raises the question: how can someone be found guilty of a crime that was factually impossible to complete?

This article will explain how Singapore law treats attempted offences, including:

What Constitutes an ‘Attempt’ to Commit a Criminal Offence

In everyday usage, we might think of an ‘attempt’ as something incomplete or unsuccessful. However, legally speaking, an attempt has a more precise meaning and carries potential criminal consequences.

Under section 511 of the Penal Code (PC), a person attempts to commit an offence when they:

Intend to commit an offence; and
Take a substantial step towards the commission of that offence.

The requirement of a substantial step is central to an attempted offence. Courts look at whether the accused has moved beyond merely thinking about or planning a crime, and has actually taken action that is meaningfully directed at committing it.

Critically, it does not matter whether the offence has been successfully completed. A person may be held criminally liable for an attempt even where the crime, for one reason or another, never comes to pass.

Some examples of attempted offences in our local laws include:

Attempted Robbery: In April 2026, a 58-year-old man was arrested for his suspected involvement in a case of attempted robbery. The man had shown a handwritten note to a moneychanger along Simei Street 6 demanding that the moneychanger hand over cash. The moneychanger refused, and the man fled the scene without obtaining any money. He was tracked down by the police and arrested within eight hours. While the moneychanger did not suffer any monetary loss and was not injured, the man was charged with attempted robbery under section 393 of the PC.
Attempted Murder: In February 2026, a 30-year-old man was arrested for his suspected involvement in the attempted murder of a 30-year-old female. The man allegedly attacked the woman with an axe, inflicting grievous injuries that required emergency medical treatment. The severity of the injuries, combined with the use of a deadly weapon, supported the prosecution’s case that he had intended to cause her death. He was charged under section 307 of the PC for attempted murder.
Attempted Cheating by Staging Own Kidnapping: In February 2026, a 22-year-old man was charged with his suspected involvement in a case of attempted cheating by staging his own kidnapping. His uncle received a text message seeking a ransom of $3,000 for the release of his nephew, with photos of the man tied up. The man was later found safe and sound by the police. He was charged with the offence of attempted cheating under section 420, read with section 511 of the PC.

Importantly, section 511 of the PC serves as a general catch-all provision. It applies to any offence punishable under the PC (or other written law) where no specific provision for the attempted version of the offence already exists.

How is an Attempt Distinguishable from Mere Preparation?

Mere preparation refers to acts that are too early or too remote to count as an attempt at the crime. These are acts where a person may have decided to commit a crime and started making arrangements for it, but has not yet taken concrete action towards carrying it out. For example, simply buying a knife with the general intention of one day using it against another person would, on its own, likely amount to mere preparation rather than an attempt.

The distinction between mere preparation and an attempt is a difficult line to draw in criminal law because mere preparation does not attract criminal liability. Following the 2019 amendments to the Penal Code, the preferred approach is believed to be the ‘substantial step’ test.

The substantial step test asks whether the accused has taken concrete action that significantly progresses them towards actually committing the crime. Whether someone has crossed this threshold depends on the specific facts of each case, and there is no bright-line rule.

To illustrate what constitutes a ‘substantial step’ in practice, consider the following examples:

Waiting for, searching for, or following the intended victim: For example, a robber lying in wait outside a bank for an employee to leave with cash deposits.
Luring the intended victim to the location where the crime is contemplated to be committed. For example, telling the victim to come to a specific location, where he plans to rob the victim upon arrival.
Scouting or surveying the location where the crime is planned. For example, repeatedly visiting a bank to study its security cameras and layout in preparation for a planned theft.
Possessing tools or items that have no lawful purpose in the circumstances and are designed for unlawful use. For example, being found carrying lock-picking tools outside a target home at night, where no lawful explanation can be given.
Possessing, collecting or fabricating materials to be used for the crime at or near the location where it is to be committed. For example, mixing chemicals to create an explosive device at or near the intended target.
Asking or persuading another person, who is unaware of the criminal plan, to perform part of the criminal act. For example, asking a courier to deliver a parcel containing illegal substances to a recipient on your behalf.

What Must be Proven to Establish an Attempted Offence?

To prove an attempted offence, there are two elements that must be established by the prosecution. These are the mental element (mens rea) and the physical element (actus reus).

Mental element: The accused is required to have intended to commit the act. For example, in the Deepak Singh case, Deepak had possessed the intention to sell a fake Rolex GMT Saru.
Physical element: The accused must have taken a ‘substantial step’ toward the commission of the offence. Likewise, Deepak took a ‘substantial step’ when he exchanged his Rolex GMT Saru for other Rolex watches, and bought an air ticket to flee the country that same night.

Can You be Guilty of an ‘Impossible’ Attempt?

Yes, you can be guilty of an impossible attempt. An impossible attempt occurs where the accused intends to commit a crime and takes substantial steps towards doing so, but the crime cannot actually be completed because of factual impossibility, legal impossibility, the non-criminality of the intended act or ineptitude on the accused’s part.

Factual impossibility: The Deepak Singh case is a textbook example. He believed the watch was inauthentic and set out to cheat the watch retailer by passing it off as genuine. However, the deception he planned was factually impossible because the watch was, in fact, authentic. Even so, this did not prevent him from being liable for attempted cheating, as he satisfied both the mental and physical elements of the offence (as discussed above).
Legal impossibility: For example, a man takes his own umbrella from a stand with the intent of stealing it, genuinely believing that it belongs to someone else. In law, you cannot steal something that already belongs to you, so no theft can technically occur on these facts. However, because he intended to steal what he thought was another person’s property and acted on that intent, he can still be guilty of an attempt.
Non-criminality of offence: Where the accused intended to commit an act believing it to be criminal, but it is not in fact an offence under Singapore’s laws, this will generally not give rise to liability for an attempt because there is no underlying offence in law. For example, a foreigner who has consensual sexual relations in Singapore with a 19-year-old, mistakenly believing it to be illegal to do so with someone below the age of 21, would generally not be liable.
Ineptitude: Ineptitude refers to situations where the accused is incompetent or makes mistakes that prevent the crime from being completed. The accused can still be guilty of an attempt if he still fulfils the mental and physical elements despite his ineptitude, given that he still intended to commit the specific act constituting the primary offence and had taken a substantial step towards his intention. For example, a person who tries to pickpocket another, but mistakenly reaches an empty pocket and fails to take anything, may still be liable for attempted theft despite his ineptitude.

What Penalties Apply to Attempted Offences?

Under section 512 of the PC, a person convicted of an attempted offence may receive the same punishment as if the offence had been completed.

However, some offences have their own specific punishment provisions for the attempted version of the crime. In these cases, the court is not bound by any fixed, specified or mandatory minimum sentence that would have applied to their completed offence. Instead, the court has the discretion to impose a sentence (or combination of sentences) that it considers appropriate, provided the sentence does not exceed the maximum punishment for the completed offence.

What happens if the completed offence carries the death penalty or life imprisonment? In such cases, an attempt to commit that offence is generally punishable by a jail term of up to 20 years. The offender may also be liable to a fine or caning. This default rule applies unless a different penalty has been specifically provided for that particular attempted offence.

Some offences may also prescribe specific penalties for attempted offences. These include:

Attempted Murder: As per section 307 of the PC, where no hurt is caused, the offender shall be jailed for up to 15 years and be liable to a fine. Where hurt is caused, the offender shall be jailed for life; or for a term which may extend to 20 years, and be liable to a fine and/or caning.
Attempted Robbery: Under section 393 of the PC, a person shall be jailed for 2 to 7 years, and punished with at least 6 strokes of the cane.

Even within the applicable sentencing range, courts exercise their discretion and will weigh both mitigating and aggravating factors when determining the appropriate sentence. Factors that may increase the severity of the sentence include:

The degree of premeditation and planning involved;
Whether the sentence was committed for financial gain;
The potential harm or loss that would have resulted had the attempt succeeded;
Prior criminal antecedents.

Conversely, factors that may reduce the sentence include:

A guilty plea (which may indicate remorse);
The absence of actual harm or financial loss to the victim (though this alone is generally insufficient to significantly reduce the sentence); and
A lack of prior criminal history.

In the Deepak Singh case, his lawyers highlighted that he was a first-time offender from a working-class family, and that no actual financial loss had been caused. The court nonetheless imposed a sentence of seven months’ imprisonment, reflecting the significant premeditation involved (which included forging identity documents and planning the fraudulent transaction).

—

Singapore law takes a firm approach to attempted offences. The focus is on what the accused intended and did, not whether they succeeded.

What should you do next? If you or a loved one has been charged with an attempted offence, you should consider seeking advice from a criminal defence lawyer as soon as possible. A criminal defence lawyer can assess the specific facts of your case, advise you on the strength of the charges against you, and help determine the best course of action, whether that involves contesting the charge at trial or seeking a favourable outcome through mitigation at the sentencing stage.