M'sian cashier steals S$57,000 from Jurong West minimart, blows it all on online gambling

When a Jurong West minimart experienced a drop in sales, the manager thought business was getting worse.

But he later discovered that business would only worsen when a particular cashier was on duty.

The woman, 37-year-old Malaysian Kon Chin Sia, was found to have stolen nearly S$57,000 in cash over the course of six months.

She spent most of this amount on online gambling.

Bad business

Kon had been working at the minimart at Block 651 Jurong West Street 61 at the time of the incident, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Joseph Gwee.

In April 2024, the manager began to notice a decline in daily sales.

While he initially dismissed it as bad business, he realised in September that sales would only drop when Kon was on duty.

There would be deficits of S$600 and S$700 whenever she manned the register, he found.

Suspicious, the manager decided to review the CCTV footage between Sep. 30 and Oct. 27, 2024.

He saw that after accepting customers' payments and giving them their change, she would keep the cash drawer open.

She would then take cash from the register and place it in a drawer next to the cash register.

Confrontation

When confronted, Kon admitted that she had been taking cash daily from the register since April 2024.

At the end of her shift, she would take the money she'd stowed in the drawer next to the cash register, and place it in her pocket.

She'd then void the transactions.

Each shift, she would pocket around S$500 to S$600, and deposit the money into her account via an ATM.

The manager gave her the opportunity to make restitution, but she did not do so.

On Dec. 20, 2024, he called the police. She was also fired.

Online gambling

The court heard that between Apr. 1, 2024 and Oct. 27, 2024, Kon deposited S$56,797 into her bank account via ATMs.

All this was misappropriated from the minimart. She mostly spent the money on her online gambling activities, the court heard.

The prosecution noted that thus far, she has "not made a cent of restitution" and remains out of pocket of a significant sum.

She was eventually sentenced to 17 months' jail on Jul. 14 for criminal breach of trust.

Another charge, for using an unlicensed gambling service, was taken into consideration in sentencing.

For criminal breach of trust, she could have been jailed up to 15 years and fined.

As her charge was amalgamated under Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, she would have been liable for double the imprisonment term as well.

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