SINGAPORE - A teenager was sentenced to reformative training on Tuesday (July 25) after lying to two police officers.

Syed Muhammad Nazmi Syed Abdullah, who will turn 19 on Thursday, pleaded guilty to one count of giving false information to Station Inspector Mohd Rosman Hassan at Ang Mo Kio Police Divisional Headquarters at around 3.40pm on July 8, 2015.

Two other similar charges committed on July 1 that year were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court heard Nazmi robbed a man on April 23, 2015, and was sentenced to reformative training on May 11 last year for committing the offence.

He is still serving this earlier sentence and donned purple prison overalls when he turned up in court on Tuesday.

On July 8, 2015, he lied to Station Inspector Mohd Rosman by claiming that one of his friends, Mr Mohamad Razif Ghani, now 19, was also involved in the robbery.

Nazmi also claimed that Mr Razif had kicked the victim while committing the offence

As a result, Mr Razif was arrested, charged and remanded for a week from July 3 2015. His case was then fixed for a trial from Nov 9 to 11 last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sarah Ong said: "It was only on Nov 4 (last year) during an interview...in Tanah Merah Prison that (Nazmi) admitted he had falsely implicated Razif in the commission of the offence and that Razif was not even at the scene of the offence.

"According to (Nazmi), he had done so because he was unhappy with Razif over a quarrel they had."

The charges against Mr Razif were withdrawn on the first day of the trial on Nov 9 last year and he was acquitted of the offence against him.

Offenders sentenced to reformative training have to spend between 18 months and three years in a reformative training centre.

They must also follow a strict regimen that includes foot drills and counselling.

For giving false information to the police, Nazmi could have been jailed up to a year and fined up to $5,000.