JUST an hour into her first day at work as a jackpot cashier in a sports club, Ng Bee Hong quit – but not before taking $5,947.
A month after her disappearing act, she returned to the Nessea Club in Upper Thomson Road with her 10-year-old daughter at 12.30am, broke into the premises and stole $11,036.
Yesterday, Ng, 31, a repeat offender who has kidney cancer and is pregnant, was jailed two years and two months for housebreaking and theft, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and theft of $604 from another employer.
When she pleaded guilty on March 9, Senior District Judge See Kee Oon had said it was absolutely shocking that she had taken her daughter along to be her accomplice in crime.
He had postponed sentencing pending a corrective training report. Corrective training, from five to 15 years, is for repeat offenders and there is no remission for good behaviour.
Due to her condition, the judge decided against imposing corrective training.
The court heard that her job at the club was to issue $1 coins to customers, in exchange for cash, for use in the jackpot room.
On Oct 1 last year, she reported for work at about 3pm, and by 4pm had left with $5,947 entrusted to her for the operations of the jackpot room.
On Oct 29, she and her daughter took a cab to the club with the intention to break in as she needed cash. At about 12.30am, she broke the wooden door of the premises with a hammer.
Inside, she used the hammer to smash the glass door of the office. She told her daughter to take a key from a cupboard to unlock a drawer.
She used a set of keys to gain access to the jackpot room where she took several bowls of coins from a jackpot machine and opened the safe. In all, she stole cash totalling $11,036.
No further action was taken against the daughter, now 11, who was arrested with Ng on Nov 1.
Ng also stole $604 from Greenbegger Supermarket in Geylang on Sept 23 while working there as a cashier.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Eunice Chong had pointed out that Ng broke the law again shortly after her last conviction in 2008 when she was imprisoned for 28 months for very similar offences.
Another aggravating factor, she said, was that Ng took her daughter along to break into the club, and even instructed her to assist in gaining access to the office.
As a repeat offender, Ng could have been jailed up to 14 years for burglary. The maximum penalty for CBT as a servant is 15 years and a fine; and for theft, seven years and a fine.
Contacted yesterday, Mr Wong Hong Juan, 55, president of the club, said Ng had attended an interview for the job just one day before she started work.
On the day she took $5,947, she had left her handbag behind so that no one would suspect she was gone, he added.
“She seemed quite honest; I never expected she would disappear with our money, then come back to break in again,” he said.
