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A MALAYSIAN burglar – who targeted his former workplace and got away with $2 – was sentenced to two years’ jail yesterday.
Ansar Anwar was handed the minimum punishment under the law after he had pleaded guilty to housebreaking and theft by night at a Sakae Sushi restaurant here.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Raja Mohan said the 24-year-old used to work at the Bugis Junction eatery as a cleaner from 2007 to 2009.
On June 26 this year, he arrived in Singapore to look for a new job and to borrow money from a friend, but he neither found work nor his friend.
The father of two then decided to break into the restaurant to steal.
The next day, close to midnight, he forced open the rear door of the premises, with the help of an accomplice. He later made off with the cash register.
Using a screwdriver, he broke it open and found just $2.
Ansar then dumped the cash till and used the money to take a bus back to Johor Baru.
His identity was later established through police investigation and a Police Gazette was issued for his arrest.
He was nabbed on July 1 at Woodlands Checkpoint when he returned to Singapore again.
A second charge of housebreaking by night with a man known only as Dila at Sakae Sushi shortly before midnight on June 27 was taken into consideration.
Dila has not been traced.
Despite making away with only $2, Ansar could have been jailed for up to 14 years under the law.
Criminal lawyer Shashi Nathan said that housebreaking by night is a serious offence and the court does not simply look at the amount that was stolen.
It also takes into consideration the intention and planning that went into the committing of the crime.
“The court must give a properly severe sentence to act as a deterrent,” he told The Straits Times yesterday.
