Taxi driver jailed for stealing passenger’s wallet

SINGAPORE: A taxi driver who was fined $1,000 for making off with a passenger’s wallet left in his taxi will now have to serve a jail term of two weeks.

His fine was also increased to $3,000, following an appeal by the prosecution for a tougher sentence.

Roy Pang Tin Jen, 39, was fined in July 2012 for one count of criminal misappropriation.

On 30 December 2011, he picked up a Japanese tourist from Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore Hotel and sent her to Changi Airport.

But she left her black Cartier wallet containing 59,000 yen (S$956) on the rear seat.

Another passenger who later took Pang’s taxi handed the wallet to him.

Instead of handing the wallet to his taxi company, Pang pocketed the cash and threw away the wallet, driver’s licence and credit cards.

The victim contacted the hotel, which then checked with Pang’s taxi company.

Pang was arrested and fined.

The prosecution appealed against the sentence, arguing that there was failure to accord sufficient weight to Pang’s occupation and public interest.

The maximum sentence for Pang’s offence is two years’ jail and a fine.

— CNA/de