42-year-old Mohammad Razali Rahmat pleaded guilty on 7 March to charges including housebreaking and criminal trespass to commit theft and was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment, with four other charges being considered during his sentencing.
The man had sought financial aid from a mosque in September last year, and the mosque gave him $50 out of goodwill, but he then returned later and stole money from them, twice.
What happened?
On 16 September 2022, Razali visited the Al-Huda mosque at 34 Jalan Haji Alias to ask for financial help, and the staff there gave him $50 out of goodwill.
The mosque also encouraged Razali to volunteer at the mosque so that he can get more help financially, to which Razali agreed.
While volunteering at the mosque, Razali helped the staff count the money that was inside the donation box, as well s familiarising himself with the layout of the premises.
The following day, at about 9.30 pm, Razali took a cab to the mosque and climbed over the perimeter wall, entering the compound of the mosque.
He then remained inside the mosque until 6.30 am the following morning, prying open a donation box with a pair of scissors, taking $120 in cash and using it for his own expenses.
Later that day, a mosque employee noticed that the money was missing from the donation box, and reported the incident to the police.
Came back to steal again
A few months later, on 5 December, Razali returned to the mosque again in the middle of the night, taking a taxi there and climbing over the wall, entering the premises and prying open the donation box.
He took about $50 in loose cash from the donation box, before heading to North Bridge Road to change the money for a single $50 note because he wanted to deposit it into his bank account.
The admin manager of the mosque discovered the donation box unlocked later that day and noticed that the keyhole was tampered with and that the money had gone missing again.
He then went to review the CCTV footage and saw Razali climbing over the wall at about 12.38 am earlier that day, as well as fiddling with the donation box and leaving the scene 10 minutes later.
He was subsequently arrested and the $50 was seized from him.