SINGAPORE: A teenager who snuck into a shopping mall to steal cash, food and drinks was sentenced to probation on Monday (Sep 2) for multiple counts of trespass and theft.
Nicholas Ooi Hao Yu, 16, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and two counts of criminal trespass, with another eight charges taken into consideration.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHe was sentenced to 18 months' probation on Monday and has to perform 150 hours of community service.
He will also have visit the prison and be placed on electronic monitoring for six months or until he enlists for national service.
His parents furnished a bond of S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during probation.
The court heard that Ooi entered YewTee Point on the night of May 17 through a swinging door at the KFC outlet that had been left unlocked.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHe intended to commit theft, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Mansoor Amir, and began searching the cashier area at the Prima Deli outlet.
After finding a key, Ooi unlocked the point-of-sale machine and took S$128 in cash, before leaving the mall the same way he had entered.
The next morning, the director of the Prima Deli outlet and his team discovered the theft.
Closed-circuit television footage showed a person behaving suspiciously in the store at about 2.50am on May 18.
HE RETURNED TO STEAL AGAIN AND WAS CAUGHT
That night, Ooi returned to YewTee Point and went in through the unlocked swinging door at KFC.
He intended to steal a canned drink from the fridge of the Subway outlet in the mall, the court heard. He had previously stolen several items from the outlet including a medium cup of iced Milo and two double chocolate cookies.
The mall's safety security officer, Mr Low Lee Bak, had been told to keep a lookout for Ooi. He went to look for Ooi after catching him on CCTV footage at about 1.45am on May 19.
Ooi was inside the mall when he heard the sound of a walkie-talkie and realised that the security guard was coming.
He went to the toilet and did not take anything from the Subway fridge. When he tried to leave the mall quietly, he was stopped by Mr Low and his colleague outside KFC.
Mr Low then took him to lodge a police report.
Ooi also admitted to stealing a Cannondale Super Six bicycle worth about S$4,000 from a house in Choa Chu Kang on Mar 19.
He had initially intended only to steal a bicycle adapter to pump air into the wheel of his own bicycle, which had a flat tyre, but stole the entire bike after discovering how easy it was to filch it.
For each count of theft in dwelling, Ooi could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.
He could have been jailed for up to three months, fined a maximum of S$1,500, or both for criminal trespass.
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