SINGAPORE, July 30 — Noticing one day that the window to his longtime neighbour’s flat along the common corridor was left unlocked, a man decided to break into the house to steal some valuables.

After his initial theft went unnoticed, Wong Kim Cheong became emboldened and broke into his neighbour’s home another four times.

In total, he stole cash and valuables amounting to S$9,900 (RM34,200).

Yesterday, the 59-year-old was sentenced to 18 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of housebreaking.

Court documents showed that Wong and the victim, aged 52, had been neighbours for the past 20 years.

On a few occasions, he had helped the woman to repair some household items, including a safe at her home. He thus came to know that the key to her safe was kept in a drawer in the apartment’s master bedroom.

Sometime on June 18 last year, Wong walked past the woman’s home and noticed that one of the sliding windows facing the common corridor was left unlocked.

He then decided to steal some valuables from his neighbour’s safe and sell the items for cash.

When he saw that no one was home in the neighbour’s flat, he took a stool from his home and stood on it to slide open the window and entered the unit.

He then took the key to open the safe, stole some jewellery and closed the safe before returning the key to the drawer in the master bedroom.

He did this on four more occasions and his crimes went undetected.

Between June 18 and October 8 last year, Wong stole several items including S$2,460 in cash, a gold necklace, four gold bracelets and four gold pendants.

He pawned the stolen jewellery at two different pawn shops in Toa Payoh and received a total of S$7,440 for these.

The money and the stolen cash were spent on the rental fee for a private-hire car. At the time of the offence, he was working as a private-hire car driver.

Treated victim’s home as ‘personal vault’

On October 25 last year, Wong’s neighbour discovered that the items were missing from her safe and she was unable to find the missing items at home.

She later observed that Wong would often look in through her windows, and recalled that he had helped with repair works in her flat.

On November 18 last year, she confronted Wong, who admitted to breaking into her house and stealing the items.

She gave Wong a chance to pay her back in full, but he was unable to do so even after more than a week.

The woman then filed a police report on November 26 and Wong was arrested later that day.

Addressing the court yesterday, State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Ng Chee Wee sought a jail sentence of between 18 and 20 months, arguing that Wong’s offence was premeditated, and it was not on impulse.

There was also an “abuse of trust” since Wong had taken advantage of his knowledge of the neighbour’s home to commit the offence, he added.

The jewellery that was pawned was later recovered by the police from the respective shops, and Wong has not made any restitution to date.

In delivering his sentencing remarks, District Judge Terence Tay said that Wong treated the victim’s home as his “personal vault” and conducted the intrusions when he needed money.

As a neighbour, Wong not only failed to look out for the victim, but instead capitalised on his ability to monitor the victim’s whereabouts to carry out his crimes, the judge added.

For committing housebreaking, Wong could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined. — TODAY