A teenage boy allegedly took a woman’s wallet at a playground in Punggol on 5 August, before confessing to his misdeeds and returning an empty wallet to her.
The money that the boy took was the woman’s financial assistance from the Social Service Office, because she is an unemployed single mother with 5 children and has to take care of her baby who has separation anxiety.
The mother of the boy who stole the money, told the woman that her son regrets taking her wallet, which contained the $1,690.
She told the woman, Ms Nora, that they promise to pay back $100 monthly, as they are having financial difficulties as well.
Nora then said that she will be reaching out to the police to see if the police report that she had filed could be rescinded.
Background
The woman was with her children at a playground in Punggol Central on 5 August, when a boy about 13 to 15 years old asked her for directions to the bus exchange.
She had placed her wallet in her stroller bag before talking to the boy, and it was hanging from her stroller.
She told STOMP that the money that was stolen was her financial assistance from the SSO, which was $1,690 in $50 notes.
She said that the money that was stolen was the only income she had to sustain her family’s expenses, and she was left with $0 in her bank.
She added that she sat down in front of her home and cried, while thinking back about the “high possibility” that the boy had stolen her purse, citing how “quickly” the boy had run off after asking for directions.
The story was published on STOMP and the boy’s mother then reached out to her, telling her that she found the wallet under her son’s pillow but there was o money left inside it.
She texted Nora ad told her that “U have son and I’m sure u will do anything for ur so not go jail”.