
Oh Koon Shin, 59, pleaded guilty to six charges of theft and causing women to take stupefying drugs and was sentenced earlier today to 7 years of corrective training.
It is worth noting that corrective training is a separate regime from imprisonment that is usually imposed on repeat offenders.
Another 5 other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Oh was previously jailed for the same crimes and was labeled by the prosecutor as a serial thief who preys on elderly women.
The court heard that Oh approached a 73-year-old woman who was waiting for her prescription and medication at Queenstown polyclinic on September 6 last year and offered her Zopiclone, a hypnotic drug used to treat insomnia, telling her that it helps relieve her neck pain.
The woman took the drug and became lightheaded, Oh then took her out of the polyclinic and stole her jade pendant, gold necklace, gold rings, $400 and several cards.
The victim’s granddaughter than saw Oh outside their family’s flat with a bunch of keys the next day, he was having toruble finding the right key to open their door.
Oh then operated with the same modus operandi and targeted another 71-year-old woman at the same polyclinic on September 9 last year, he offered her the same drug as his first victim, lying to her that she had to take it before her check up. The woman thought he was a clinic employee, so she took it.
Oh then stole her bracelet and the victim’s son reported $2,500 being stolen from her.
The penalties for drugging someone to commit theft are a jail term of up to 10 years, a fine or caning.
Oh cannot be caned as he is above 50.
For each count of theft, he could be jailed for up to three years, fined, or both.