SINGAPORE COMPUTERS STOLEN Woman stole 150 laptops:

July 16, 2009
Woman stole 150 laptops
By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent

OVER a two-year period, Suhaizah Mohammad Sukhaimi used her position as corporate support officer at Yishun Junior College (YJC) to steal 150 laptops.

On Wednesday, the 30-year-old was jailed for 24 months after pleading guilty to six counts of criminal breach of trust concerning laptops worth $13,186 last year.

Suhaizah began working at the school in December 1999. Her duties included the safekeeping of information technology equipment, issuing laptops to teachers and students, and ensuring that the items were properly accounted for and returned.

But last October, YJC's vice-principal discovered many laptops missing from the storeroom. He then checked the cabinets in a seminar room and found some laptops stored there plus many empty laptop bags.

When he questioned Suhaizah about the missing computers, she confessed that she had stolen and sold them to various people.

The prosecution said the school had to spend about $208,000 to replace the 150 stolen laptops.

Her lawyer, Mr S.K. Kumar, said in mitigation that not all the replacement costs could or should be attributed to his client because of depreciation. He also told the court that a personal crisis in his client's life led to her committing the offences.

Suhaizah, who had been abandoned by her mother and was cared for by her grandparents, had learnt that she was an illegitimate child and felt downcast, sad and upset, he said. A psychiatrist found her to be suffering from low self-esteem.

District Judge Jasbendar Kaur said there were many aggravating factors, such as the number of times she committed the thefts, and the betrayal of trust placed in her. She noted that the offences occurred over a period of time and some planning was involved.

Suhaizah could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined on each of the six charges.

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