Jail for mother-and-daughter pair who went on Orchard Road shoplifting spree

SINGAPORE - A mother-and-daughter pair went on a shoplifting spree and stole items such as undergarments and footwear worth more than $1,000 in total.

Fong Leok Moy, 68, and Wong Phuay Yee, 41, who were both jobless at the time, each pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Aug 21) to three shoplifting charges and were sentenced to 10 days' jail each.

Each woman had seven other theft charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

According to court documents, the pair went to a FitFlop outlet in Wisma Atria shopping centre on Oct 15, 2017, and made off with two pairs of footwear worth nearly $300.

They returned to the same store a week later and left without buying anything.

One of its sales assistants decided to follow them, as he remembered that the pair had stolen from the shop the week before.

The 29-year-old man alerted the police, who arrived soon after and checked the pair.

Fong and Wong had in their possession many unaccountable items, such 25 pieces of underwear from lingerie store Victoria's Secret and three pairs of shorts from Cotton On apparel shop.

The pair also admitted that they had shoplifted from various shops in Orchard Road.

On Wednesday, defence lawyer T.M. Sinnadurai pleaded for his clients to each be sentenced to two days' jail and a fine of $6,000.

He told District Judge Eddy Tham: "The two accused understand the seriousness of the offences and are not making any excuses for their actions.

"They vow to never re-offend. They admit to the offences and deeply regret them."

The pair are now out on bail of $5,000 each and were ordered to surrender themselves at the State Courts on Aug 29 to begin serving their sentences.

Offenders convicted of shoplifting can be jailed for up to seven years and fined for each charge.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.