Singaporean man jailed for stealing $8,600 from coffee shop charity boxes

A Singaporean man who stole about SGD11,000 (US$8,600) from charity donation boxes at a Geylang coffee shop has been sentenced to four months and four weeks in jail.

Manohar s/o Thirunavukkarasu, 29, pleaded guilty on Oct. 27 to two theft charges. Another charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.

The boxes belonged to a vegetarian stall at Kim San Leng coffee shop and held donations intended for organizations including the Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution, Ren Ci Hospital and Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, according to Lianhe Zaobao.

They were kept on a metal rack and secured with a single cable tie. On June 13, an employee forgot to move the trolley holding them inside before closing.

At around 1:48 a.m. the following day, Manohar noticed the boxes while passing the coffee shop and decided to take them.

He put them in a container used for dirty dishes, loaded it onto the trolley and pushed it toward Aljunied MRT station. He then forced the boxes open, removed about SGD11,000 in cash and abandoned the boxes, container and trolley.

Stall owner Choo Hong Eng discovered the theft at about 5:32 a.m. and alerted police.

Manohar was arrested on June 30 following a confrontation with a security guard at Singapore’s School of the Arts.

The guard found him lying on a staircase and asked him to leave. Manohar became agitated and shouted vulgarities, prompting the guard to call police.

Officers checked his identity and discovered that he was wanted in connection with the donation box theft.

He had only SGD166 and small amounts of foreign currency when arrested. He told investigators that he had spent approximately SGD10,000 repaying drug debts and another SGD1,000 on personal expenses, AsiaOne reported.

The stolen funds were not recovered, and he has made no restitution. Court documents also showed that, less than a month before the Geylang theft, Manohar stole a packet of instant ramen and a ramen cup worth a combined SGD9.60 from a Shine Korea store in Bras Basah.

Choo told Shin Min Daily News that she was relieved by the arrest because she could explain what had happened to the organizations involved.

She has stopped placing donation boxes outside her stall and now uses the space for cutlery. "It is a pity that these donations have stopped," Choo said.