Romanians charged with receiving stolen goods absent from court

[General Veers]

Romanians charged with receiving stolen goods absent from court

Published on Mar 6, 2012
By Fiona Low

A Romanian man and woman who were charged with dishonestly receiving stolen items were due in court on Tuesday, but they were no where to be seen.

Their lawyer Peter Fernando said he received an e-mail on Monday - when the pair was supposed to return to the country - informing that both accused are still in Romania due to medical reasons.

The two were first charged on Feb 21, after they allegedly knowingly received 30 different stolen items on the afternoon of Feb 5 at Orchard Hotel. The items include tobacco products, perfumes and cosmetics.

Mr Fernando said businessman Cristian Bogdan, 35, was unable to travel due to his 'mental and physical state', while the second accused, kindergarten teacher Iulia Anamaria Dobrin, 31, had been hospitalised at the Bucharest Emergency University Hospital.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.

 

[Muthukali]

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[no_faith]

what are the odds they will return?

 

[Microsoft]

We mus learn frm de Romanian...all super duper 1st class no horse run MCKing!!

 

[Maxima]

Two Romanians refuse to return to S'pore

By Shaffiq Alkhatib and Chai Hung Yin
The New Paper
Sunday, May 20, 2012

SINGAPORE - In February, The New Paper reported that a New Zealander and a Briton jumped bail and fled Singapore after they were allegedly involved in a brawl at Suntec City in 2010.

Now, two more foreigners, both Romanians, have done likewise after they were charged in court on Feb 21 with dishonestly receiving stolen property.

They are kindergarten teacher Iulia Anamaria Dobrin, 31, and her friend, businessman Cristian Bogdan, 35.

Their warrants of arrest were issued on May 3.

Both of them are accused of receiving 99 boxes containing items such as cigars and perfumes.

It is alleged that they had also received 35 packets and cartons of cigars and cigarettes.

The duo allegedly committed the offence at the Orchard Hotel at around 2pm on Feb 5.

They were due to be in court on March 6.

Their lawyer, Mr Peter Fernando, made an application for them to leave Singapore between Feb 27 and March 5.

It was granted and the pair were released on court bail of $30,000 each.

But they were still in Romania on March 5, citing medical reasons.

Mr Fernando had stated that Bogdan was unable to travel due to his "mental and physical state", as he was said to be suffering from post-traumatic stress and panic disorders after his remand in Singapore.

Dobrin, on the other hand, was admitted at the Bucharest Emergency University Hospital on March 4 for health issues, including secondary anaemia and depressive moods.

Speaking to TNP on Thursday, Mr Fernando said that he has been e-mailing the pair, requesting them to return to Singapore as soon as possible.

If convicted of dishonestly receiving stolen property, they could each be sentenced to five years' jail and fined.

Lawyers TNP spoke to said that jumping bail doesn't necessarily mean that a person is guilty of the offence charged.

Mr Chia Boon Teck, co-managing partner of Chia Wong LLP, said: "It could be that being a foreigner and unfamiliar with our criminal justice system, they fear that they may not be treated fairly or justly or lawfully."

He explained that a bail of an appropriate amount is offered to an accused person with the consideration that if he or she runs away, the bail amount is a reasonable sum to forfeit.

He said: "The bail amount should be an appropriate fraction of the prescribed punishment for the offence.

"The bail amount should not be equal to the punishment itself since the accused is innocent until proven guilty."

An accused person who has jump bail will be placed on the "wanted" list and will be arrested the next time he or she returns to Singapore, said Mr Chia.

Interpol

He said: "In certain cases, the police may work with Interpol to arrest the accused overseas and extradite him to Singapore to face the music."

Mr Chia noted that Singapore has a low "jump bail" rate.

He added that it is "testimony that our criminal justice system is a respectable and transparent one that strikes a balance between meting out justice and respecting the principle that an accused is innocent until proven guilty".

And even if they get away, they will also have to deal with the mental pressure.

He said: "They will be punished and imprisoned mentally because they will always be looking over their shoulders in suspicion that they are being followed.

"Many bail jumpers surrender themselves after a few years' exile because they cannot handle the stress of always having to look over their shoulders."

He added that the current bail process is working fine.

"No system is perfect. We should not have a knee-jerk reaction and question the system every time something negative happens," he said.

This article was first published in The New Paper.