TWO Indonesian women returned to the same shop in Orchard Road a few days after they had stolen a wallet and mobile phone from two customers there.
This time, Nursilawati, 37, and Helda Lastria, 31, were promptly detained by the store manager who found that they resembled the two persons involved in the earlier theft.
The manager of New Look, a clothing outlet at 313@Somerset, was on duty on March 5 when she saw the two Indonesians walk in.
She called the police, who found in their possession a pair of ladies’ pants, a swimsuit and a T-shirt costing a total of about $70 which they had stolen earlier from Uniqlo, also at 313@Somerset.
After their arrest, police raided their hotel room in Lorong 10, Geylang and found an assortment of mobile phones.
One of them, an iPhone worth $400, had been stolen from a 27-year-old centre officer at Forever 21 at Wisma Atria on March 2.
The court heard that Nursilawati stole the victim’s cellphone from her handbag and handed it to Helda, who had acted as a lookout.
Investigations showed that they used the same method to steal an Indonesian woman’s BlackBerry worth $400 at Cotton On at the same shopping mall on March 3.
The next day, they were walking behind an 18-year-old student when they stole a $400 iPod from her haversack.
In all, the two stole goods worth $1,926 over four days.
Both were jailed for 18 weeks after pleading guilty to four charges. The other eight charges were considered during their sentencing.
They could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for shop theft.
The maximum penalty for theft is three years’ jail and a fine for each charge.
