SINGAPORE: While responding to a case of fire in one’s house, a fire spotted an Apple Watch and stole it when he was alone.
Ernest Tay Xiheng, 26, was on Friday ( May 17 ) jailed for three months after pleading guilty to one count of theft.
At the time of the crime, he was a fire in the Singapore Civil Defence Force while he was serving National Service.
A fireplace was reported in a straight at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 on September 1, 2023, at around 7am. The residents were forced to flee for their own protection.
A group of firefighters from Ang Mo Kio Fire Station, including Tay, was deployed. Because there was dust but no real flames, they immediately began to investigate the cause of the fire.
During the inspection, Tay entered a bathroom, saw an Apple Watch on the floor and formed the intention to take it, said the trial.
Tay pocketed the view and left the apartment at around 8 a.m., making him the only people left in the bedroom. When he went back to the fire place, he restore the view, and he took it home after work.
Tay after expressed regret for taking the view and fearing an investigation by the police into the theft. He threw it away at a lawn piece along the Tampines Expressway while on his bicycle, said the trial.
The watch’s user realized it was missing on September 7 and conducted a failed search in the apartment for it.
The view was past used at Ang Mo Kio Fire Station on September 1 after she discovered it using a wireless program.
However, the woman had never visited the fire place and had not been informed of any items being taken from her level during the fire. Suspicious, she made a police statement about the missing see two days later.
Tay was detained on October 18. The watch, valued at S$ 332 ( US$ 245 ), was not recovered but Tay made full restitution to the victim.
The attorney cited fraud by police officers as a basis for the request for three to four months in jail for Tay.
While Tay was not a police officer, the concept of punishment should use just as firmly to emergency response staff, said the attorney.
Tay allegedly abused the trust that he had when he was a fire because he had access to other people’s homes in order to carry out his duties, according to the attorney.
Tay’s doctors, Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong of Invictus Law, sought a maximum of two weeks ‘ prison for their clientele.
Tay’s steps were no premeditated and it was just a case of “he came, he saw, he stole”, argued Mr Tan.
He emphasized that Tay had already offered full compensation to the victim before seeking legal counsel, which first showed his regrets.
Tay was a first-time offender, according to the defense, and his robbery was out of character given his usually excellent behavior.
They claimed that a sentence of more than three months may be” crushing” for him because it would result in a permanent criminal record rather than a five-year crime-free period after his release.
District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam acknowledged that the robbery was unscrupulous, but she added that Tay’s behavior while on work as a uniform officer was particularly aggravating.
She noted his first appeal of guilt but gave little weight to his compensation because it was made after the robbery was discovered by the authorities.
The judge also determined that the defense’s claim that there is no longer a criminal record took precedence over the other punishment issues.
” A criminal record is the common result of committing an offence”, she said.
A maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a great are the penalties for fraud.