Tan Yiap Ming, 30-years-old, was fined S$3,000 in court for one count of dishonest misappropriation on September 10.
He reportedly saw an iPhone XR on a grass patch at Ang Mo Kio and took it home for himself.
The owner of the phone dropped it out of his unzipped waist pouch, he then filed a police report.
Sequence of events
The owner of the phone, Mr Wang, was walking around in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, near block 202, when his phone dropped out of his unzipped pouch.
About 10 minutes later, Tan walked past and saw the phone lying on the grass patch.
So he picked it up and kept it for himself.
Mr Wang then realised his phone was missing a little while later and subsequently made a police report.
The authorities discovered multiple attempts to activate the phone.
Tan was then traced by the police.
On March 12, they found the phone at his home, about 3 months after it was lost.
Tan had not made any efforts to trace the phone to its owner, neither did he surrender it to the authorities.
Previous convictions
The prosecution asked for a fine of at least $3,000, highlighting Tan;s previous convictions of dishonest misappropriation and theft.
Tan defended himself, saying he wanted to return the phone but “had no time”, adding that he was afraid to go to a police station because of his previous convictions.
The prosecutor pointed out that investigations showed that Tan had connected his phone to the WiFi in his house.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur said that he (Tan) was coming to court for the third time for dishonesty and had been given guidance by a counsellor in 2010 but hadn’t learned his lesson.
She lectured him: “In life, there are many temptations, you see something lying there, you want to take it, but you must not take it. It’s as simple as that. If you come to court for a fourth time, you must go to jail, is that clear? So don’t be foolish and be tempted.”
Tan cried and wiped away tears from his eyes upon hearing this.
He was allowed by the judge to pay his fine in installments of S$1,000.
For dishonest misappropration, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined or both.