The penalty for theft and dishonest is a jail time period of as much as three years and a effective. (Representational)
Singapore:
An Indian-origin nursing house worker was fined SGD 4,000 on Monday after she pleaded responsible earlier to theft and dishonest an aged resident.
Latha Narayanan, 59, stole an ATM card belonging to an aged resident she was assigned to take care of and withdrew SGD 1,000 in money. She additionally used the cardboard to purchase meals and toiletries at a grocery store.
Two different comparable fees in opposition to Latha had been considered throughout sentencing, in accordance with a report by The Straits Times.
The court docket heard that in 2019, Latha, who was a well being assistant at Woodlands Care Home, was assigned to look after the sufferer, a 65-year-old man.
He died in January 2021, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
The court docket heard that someday in 2019, the person forgot the PIN quantity for his ATM card and Latha accompanied him to the financial institution to acquire a brand new code after an everyday hospital go to.
The man obtained his new PIN quantity within the presence of Latha and positioned his ATM card within the pocket of his telephone cowl. He then handed the gadget to her for safekeeping.
On November 21, 2019, Latha used the cardboard entrusted to her to withdraw SGD 1,000 in money, committing theft, mentioned the prosecution.
She then used the cardboard on November 25 to pay for SGD 73 value of meals and toiletries at a grocery store in Woodlands, dishonestly inducing workers on the retailer to make the transaction.
The offences got here to mild when the aged man reported to the police on November 27 that he misplaced his ATM card and that unauthorised withdrawals had been created from his checking account.
This was not Latha’s first brush with the regulation. In 2017, she was fined SGD 600 for property-related thefts, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Seeking a effective of SGD 4,000, the prosecution mentioned that the whole quantity concerned in Latha’s case was SGD 1,870, noting that restitution was made within the type of a donation to the Singapore Cancer Society on February 9 this yr.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Ashwin Ganapathy, who additionally sought a effective of SGD 4,000, mentioned Latha was dedicated to creating restitution regardless of needing months to collect the funds.
He informed the court docket in an earlier session that Latha had been a sufferer of bullying in her youth and endured abuse in her marriage.
She was additionally abused by the sufferer whom she cared for on the nursing house, Mr Ganapathy added.
The penalty for theft and dishonest is a jail time period of as much as three years and a effective.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)