A 61-year-old security guard who worked at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) was fined S$1,200 on June 14 for taking a laptop instead of returning it to a student, CNA reported.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Ramdas Gurusamy had pleaded guilty to one count of dishonest misappropriation.

Student had forgotten to pack his laptop

Investigations revealed that he had come across the laptop, and its accompanying bag, in the school's canteen on June 27, 2017, at about 11.08pm, while he was doing his security rounds.

He was then seen leaving the canteen with the bag.

The items had been left behind by a student who had forgotten to take them when he decided to head home at 4pm, earlier in the day.

Upon discovering this issue at about 7pm, the student told his mother, who contacted the school the following day about the matter.

However, the items could not be found in the canteen.

The victim's mother then lodged a police report on July 3, 2017.

Laptop's geolocation traced to security guard's address

Court documents further noted that the student's laptop was installed with a software called Goguardian, which allows the school to carry out internet filtering and monitor students’ online activities once they are logged in.

It also contains a feature which allows the school to determine the laptop's geolocation should it go missing, and is switched on.

As such, on July 25, 2017, some activities were detected on the laptop within the vicinity of Block 220, Petir Road, which corresponded to Gurusamy's address.

The activity log showed that Gurusamy had used it for activities such as searching for songs.

Gurusamy initially made no attempt to return the bag or the laptop, which was valued at about S$542, to the owner or authorities.

However, he has since made restitution and is remorseful, CNA further reported, with the judge accepting his actions.

For pleading guilty to one count of dishonest misappropriation, he could have been sentenced to a jail term of two years, or fined, or subjected to both.

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