SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): A mother and her two teenage daughters, then aged 16 and 18, went shoplifting together on Nov 26, 2022, to steal items worth more than S$1,200 (RM4,000).
Separately, the woman’s husband and the younger girl also worked together that day to commit a similar offence at a supermarket, making off with items worth more than S$200 (RM655) in total.
On Oct 7, the daughters, now aged 18 and 20, were each sentenced to 18 months’ probation.
As part of the sentence, each offender has to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am every day, and perform 50 hours of community service.
For each daughter, the mother was bonded for S$5,000 to ensure her good behaviour.
All four Singaporean family members in this case cannot be named as one of the daughters was just 16 years old at the time of the offences.
Those who commit crimes before they turn 18 are protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.
Thus, her parents and sister also cannot be named, as doing so could lead to a disclosure of her identity.
All four family members were convicted in July.
The father, 57, was sentenced to three weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of theft, while the mother, 48, was jailed for five weeks after she admitted to two theft charges.
The older daughter pleaded guilty to two theft charges and her sister admitted to three.
In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kiera Yu told the court that the mother took her two daughters to various shops in malls in Tampines to shoplift on Nov 26, 2022.
While the trio were in a toiletries shop at Tampines 1 shopping mall, the mother took a few items and handed them to her younger daughter.
The girl then took them to the entrance of the store to test if they would be detected by security sensors.
On realising that no sensors were triggered, the teenager placed the items in her bag and returned to the store.
Her mother then handed her more items, including skincare products, to hide in her bag.
After that, the younger daughter took 24 more items, including make-up products, and placed them in her bag.
Her sister grabbed other things, including pimple patches and sunscreen, and placed them in her own bag.
The trio left the shop with 39 items worth more than $890 without paying for them.
They committed the same offence at a similar store in Century Square shopping mall and stole 11 items worth more than S$300.
That same day, the father went with the younger teenager to a supermarket at Tampines 1 and placed three bottles of alcoholic drinks into a black bag.
He then handed the bag to his daughter. Before she left the premises, the girl also took other items, including razors, and placed them inside her own bag.
In total, the pair stole products worth more than S$200 from the supermarket.
Their offences came to light after an employee at one of the stores made a police report.
DPP Yu said the couple committed the crimes because they knew their daughters were unlikely to receive jail sentences even if they were arrested, due to the girls’ ages at the time.
“Instead of exercising their parental duties and guiding their children to be lawful citizens, it is particularly aggravating that they had taken advantage of the young age of their daughters, and brought them to the mall for the purpose of committing thefts,” added the prosecutor.
In their annual crime statistics released in February, the police said shop theft made up 19.7 per cent of reported physical crime cases in 2023.
More than two-thirds of the cases took place in locations such as department stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores.
The police also said that items typically stolen included food and beverages, alcoholic drinks, personal care products, cosmetics, apparel and accessories.
On May 18, the police told The Straits Times that there were 977 shop theft cases in the first four months of 2024 – 99 more than the 878 cases reported in the same period in 2023.
The police have reminded the public that there are now more CCTV cameras within retail premises, allowing businesses to review footage and make police reports against shoplifters.
The authorities have also urged retailers to take deterrent measures against shop theft.
For each count of shoplifting, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years and fined. - The Straits Times/ANN
