SINGAPORE: A man who was deployed to some mall as a safe-distancing ambassador during the COVID-19 pandemic stole from shops instead, marketing Lego sets he or she filched from Playthings “R” Us.
The court heard that he was obviously a serial thief with convictions dating back in order to 2007.
Muhammad Israfael Abdullah was handed 20 weeks’ prison on Thursday (Sep 8). The 34-year-old pleaded guilty in order to two counts of theft, with two other charges taken into consideration.
The courtroom heard that Israfael was deployed in order to VivoCity in HarbourFront as a safe-distancing ambassador. While on duty on Jun 13 this year, he went to Playthings “R” Us 3 times and stole three Lego sets really worth about S$540 simply by placing them in a carry bag.
He or she immediately put up ads online and sold the Lego sets to an unknown buyer on the vehicle drop-off stage at VivoCity that same day.
He received S$100 for the sale plus went back to the shopping mall to steal the backrest worth about S$110 from the Self-Fix store.
Israfael’s acts were taken on closed-circuit television cameras. A manager of Toys “R” Us lodged an electric police report that will afternoon and Israfael was arrested.
The S$100 cash was seized from him, as well as the backrest. The Lego models have not been recovered and no restitution has been conducted, said the prosecutor.
Israfael’s charges taken into consideration show that he had stolen from the shops in VivoCity on various other occasions: He got Lego sets and also a pocket fishing online game worth about S$168 in total on Jun 4 this year, plus five Lego sets worth about S$390 on Jun eleven this year.
The prosecutor asked for 20 weeks’ jail. This individual listed Israfael’s earlier convictions: He had been sentenced to probation in 2007 designed for theft, and breached his probation a month later. For their breach, he had been fined but instead served four days’ jail in default.
In 2009, he was convicted of theft plus having unlawful carnal connection with a minor, for which he received 7 weeks’ jail.
In 2017, this individual was jailed a couple weeks for theft. Within 2019, he was handed four weeks’ jail for theft. Their latest conviction is at August last year, whenever he received 6 weeks’ jail just for theft.
The prosecutor said the theft in the present case was premeditated and that Israfael was used to perform his responsibilities as a safe-distancing ambassador but instead stole in the shops.
“Immediately after stealing the Lego sets, the particular accused sold them for profit, inch said the prosecutor.
The assess told Israfael that he read his mitigation plea and will not have to get considering a community-based sentence given that they have “so many previous offences”.
Inquired if he had whatever else to say, Israfael said: “Whatever it is, We are prepared to take the 20 weeks. ”
The judge told him: “I wish at some point you will stop stealing. If you always do so, you can expect heavier sentences. ”
He allowed Israfael to defer his jail term to October to settle several matters, and questioned Israfael to stay in courtroom for a while after their case to speak to the court counsellor.
For theft, can have been jailed up to seven years plus fined.