Cabby who drove off with passenger's belongings jailed
Khushwant Singh
The Straits Times
Saturday, Jul 27, 2013
SINGAPORE - A cabby drove off with a passenger's belongings, yet minutes later denied they were in his vehicle.
Adrian Concenciao, 38, was on Wednesday sentenced to a month in jail for misappropriating a camera bag belonging to businessman Rashim Mehta in April.
Its contents, worth $1,413, included the Indian national's passport, a camera and a mobile phone.
And he did not stop there.
A month later on May 7, while on bail for the misappropriation charge, he switched his slippers for a $24 pair of shoes he did not pay for at Mustafa Centre. He was arrested when he left the department store. He received two weeks in jail for stealing, with both terms to run concurrently.
He could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for theft. For misappropriation, Concenciao, who pleaded guilty, could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined, or both.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nakoorsha Abdul Kadir cited a 2007 case in which then Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said the sentencing benchmark for a taxi driver who took items belonging to a passenger should be a jail term.
Only in exceptional circumstances, such as "the insignificant value of the property", would a fine be appropriate, CJ Chan had added.
On April 2, Concenciao took Mr Mehta and family to Changi Airport at 1.10am to catch a flight to India. The family forgot about the camera bag on the back seat when they alighted.
Shortly after the cab drove off, 51-year-old Mehta called ComfortDelGro to report the loss. But when the taxi company called Concenciao, he claimed that there was no such bag in his vehicle.
The cabby later admitted to police that he had taken the items out of greed. Neither the bag nor its contents were recovered.
