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SINGAPORE: An employee at a Haidilao stew restaurant stole cash and cards from three of his colleagues, and used them to top up his EZ-Link card.
Wong Chun Yao, 25, was sentenced to five weeks in jail on Friday (October 30) after pleading guilty to five counts of theft and unauthorized access to computer equipment. Nine other charges were considered.
The court heard that Wong worked as a waiter at Haidilao Hot Pot @ 313, a popular hotpot restaurant at 313 Somerset on Orchard Road.
He began stealing on August 16 last year, first targeting a 22-year-old Malaysian colleague who placed his backpack on a backroom shelf for restaurant employees.
Wong removed the victim’s DBS debit card from his purse, in actions that were captured on closed-circuit television footage. He went to the Somerset MRT station and used the card to load S $ 100 onto his EZ-Link card using PayWave.
Later he went to the Transitlink office and withdrew the S $ 100 in cash.
Several days later, on August 24, 2019, he targeted a 37-year-old woman who had left her purse in the staff locker. Wong saw that the locker was not secured and stole S $ 150 from the victim’s purse.
That same day, Wong saw that the locker of a 64-year-old colleague was open. She took an OCBC debit card out of her purse and used it to load S $ 200 onto her EZ-Link card.
The next day, the 64-year-old victim realized that she had lost her debit card and reported it to her management. Wong admitted his actions and told his supervisor, who asked him to turn himself in to the police station. Subsequently, Wong returned to his three colleagues the amounts he had stolen from them.
CHANGED JOB, BUT STOLEN AGAIN
He started working at a different store: Ginza Kuroson at the Takashimaya department store.
On October 18, 2019, Wong stole items, including two debit cards, from one of his new colleagues at Ginza Kuroson. He used the cards to load a total of S $ 200 onto his EZ-Link card.
The victim filed a police report two days later and Wong later returned the sums he took.
The prosecutor asked for at least six weeks in jail, while the defense said they hoped the sentence would not be crushing, so that Wong would have a job to return to.
He said Wong was under pressure from loan sharks and made a full refund despite his financial troubles. Now he works at a cricket club.
The judge said the sentence requested by the prosecution was fair enough, but granted a small discount due to the fact that Wong had reinstated and pleaded guilty.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article stated that the accused is Malaysian. In fact, he is Singaporean. We apologize for the error.
