Masseur jailed for theft & forgery
Posted: 16 November 2012 1423 hrs
SINGAPORE: A 28-year-old Malaysian was jailed four months by a district court on Friday for theft and forgery.
Cheah Wei Yap, who worked as a masseur at a beauty and health centre at People's Park Complex, stole his former employer's cheque book and forged a cheque of S$20,000 to his name.
The offences took place sometime in April this year.
The court heard that Cheah, who is deaf and mute, would head back to the centre to meet his ex-colleagues, even though he had already stopped working there.
On one of his visits, he took the cheque book from his former employer's laptop bag, which was usually stored behind the shop counter.
Cheah then forged her signature on a cheque for S$20,000, made payable to his name, before dropping the cheque into a UOB cheque deposit box.
He then destroyed and disposed of the remaining cheques in the cheque book.
Cheah's crime came to light when the bank called his former employer to make some clarifications about the cheque.
His former employer then filed a police report.
Defence counsel Josephus Tan, who was assigned to Cheah by the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, asked the court for a compassionate sentence as Cheah was a first-time offender, with an infant daughter.
He had committed the offences due to personal and financial difficulties.
Cheah also faced a charge of housebreaking and theft by night, which the prosecution took into consideration.
After sentencing, the judge allowed Cheah a few minutes to talk to his wife and daughter.
For forgery, Cheah could have been jailed up to four years and fined, and for theft, he could have been jailed up to three years and fined.
The judge ordered Cheah's sentence to be backdated to September 26, when he was first remanded.
- CNA/xq/sf
