In this particular case, Sha Bakar entered a brothel and threatened three people in an armed hold-up, and also wounded the three hostages by shooting his gun at them.

[4] Four years later, in March 1959, Sha Bakar committed armed robbery at a canteen in Hollywood Theatre at Tanjong Katong Road, by using a knife to threaten Ong Teong Chai before taking away S$3 in cash and his watch worth S$25.

Sha Bakar was noted to often wear dark glasses and a cap, and cover his face with a cloth, and he reportedly could speak broken English and a smattering of Hokkien.

On 29 November 1974, Sha Bakar, then armed with a .22 Walther PPK pistol, robbed a woman Cynthia Ann Mok Ah Lee of S$1,704.91 at Joo Chiat post office, as well as shooting the victim and several bystanders (who all survived their injuries).

[8] On 14 December 1974, Sha Bakar robbed a group of five people of S$660 at gunpoint, and fired shots at the five victims and a bystander at Amber Road.

The third case happened on 1974's Christmas Day (25 December 1974), when Sha Bakar took off with S$1,278 in cash and jewellery after robbing a snack bar at Katong and shooting its three occupants and a passer-by (who also survived).

[9] On the night of 11 January 1975, merely 15 minutes after he robbed Loh Yee Poh of her penchant and cash, 37-year-old Sha Bakar bin Dawood, still armed with his gun, barged into a brothel at Thiam Siew Avenue, and held three people - 26-year-old brothel owner Wong Meng Seng, 78-year-old caretaker Tan Tai Meng and a young callgirl named Soyah binte Mohammed Ali - hostage.

According to the three victims' testimonies to the police and court, Sha Bakar brandished his revolver to fire one shot in the air, demanding the trio to give him money and valuables.

As for both Soyah and Wong, the former forked out money from her handbag while Sha Bakar pointed the gun at her, but she was shot on the thigh after she refused to hand over her jewellery.

[10] Coincidentally, a group of police officers, led by Inspector Henry Thomas, witnessed Sha Bakar escaping the brothel, where they arrived at upon hearing the gunshots.

[20][21][22] The Arms Offences Act, under which Sha Bakar was charged for the shooting, was earlier passed in November 1973 by Parliament in order to reduce gun violence in Singapore, in light of the several high-profile firearm-related cases and shoot-outs committed in Singapore, one of which was the case of notorious gunman Lim Ban Lim, who was wanted for the 1968 murder of police corporal Koh Chong Thye and later gunned down by police in 1972 during a gunfight at Margaret Drive.

Sha Bakar added that he went to Thailand, but after crossing the border, and reaching Padang Besar where he planned to apply to extend his stay permit, he was approached by immigration officers, who asked him if he was a wanted man and also shown a newspaper with his photograph on the article.

In the verdict, which was read out by Justice Winslow, the trial judges found that there was sufficient evidence to prove that Sha Bakar was indeed at the scene of crime, firing his gun at bystanders in the brothel and getting into the gunfight with police.

[31][32][33] In the aftermath of Sha Bakar's trial, Inspector Henry Thomas, who had since promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was commended by the Police Commissioner Tan Teck Khim for his bravery and courage when facing Sha Bakar at the shoot-out, as well as cracking the infamous case of the four-member "Swimming Trunk Gang", who were sentenced to a total of 64 years' imprisonment and 144 strokes of the cane for a series of 228 robberies and thefts.

[40][41][42] In the aftermath of Sha Bakar's execution, due to the enactment of the Arms Offences Act, the total number of firearm robbery cases fell from a peak of 174 in 1973, when the death penalty was first introduced, to 106 in the following year 1974.