Thief with fetish for women’s wallets spared heavier sentence as High Court rejects prosecution’s appeal
SINGAPORE — A 54-year-old serial thief with an erotic fetish for women’s wallets had reoffended after serving multiple jail terms over a span of more than 30 years. In January, Low Ji Qing was jailed again for 10 months for committing the same crime.
However, the prosecution appealed to the High Court for the sentence to be raised to two years, pointing out that it was too light as Low was previously jailed for three years for similar offences and had reoffended immediately after his release.
However, Chief Justice (CJ) Sundaresh Menon did not agree as he dismissed the appeal on Thursday (April 18) following a spirited exchange between the highest judicial officer of the land and Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Wen Hsien. CJ Menon pointed out that Low had already paid for his crimes by spending about 20 years behind bars.
The 10-month sentence was a “reflection of a good balance” the criminal justice system had struck to signal to him that he should keep trying to seek help for his fetishism, he added.
The appeal on Thursday was for two thefts Low committed at the toy section of Takashimaya Shopping Centre on Oct 17, 2017 and Orchard Central’s Don Don Donki outlet on July 25, 2018 while out on bail for committing a similar theft in May 2017. In both instances, the wallets were returned to their owners and nothing was taken.
In sentencing him, District Judge Eddy Tham had then noted that Low’s previous sentence should not be the benchmark because he faced more charges and that he had been regularly seeking help from a psychiatrist and psychologist since his first offence. Between September 2017 and June 2018 for instance, he had attended 30 therapy sessions.
The lower court also accepted that Low deserved leniency as he showed remorse when he returned the stolen wallet to the cashier’s counter at Don Don Donki, which indicated a “high degree of conflict in the accused’s mind”. Furthermore, his thefts were of a “less serious nature”, and resulted in no loss on the part of his victims as all the items were returned to the rightful owners, it found.
Low also has an upcoming criminal mention on Monday for fresh offences he allegedly committed on Dec 17 last year and Jan 4. He apparently stole an iPhone 8 plus at Takashimaya and a women’s wallet at Paragon shopping mall.
HE HAS PAID THE PRICE: CJ
At the start of Thursday’s court session, CJ Menon noted that he could not identify where the district court’s judgement went wrong. DPP Tan said that the sentence placed undue weight on the convict’s rehabilitative journey in dealing with his fetishism.
Pointing out that his crimes are akin to an offender who steals money to feed an alcohol addiction, DPP Tan stressed that fetishism is not an underlying issue for his crimes.
“The addiction merely fuels the desire to steal, but the offender is in full control of his impulses and intention to steal,” she said.
But CJ Menon asserted that rehabilitation is what every criminal case “strives for”.
DPP Tan then noted that Low’s history of depression and fetishism could be traced back to 1996 and he had received treatment when he was incarcerated but that did not stop him from reoffending. “The issue now is how do we help someone like him when (psychotherapy) does not work?” she told the court.
CJ Menon replied: “You are saying as if the person is beyond hope, but looking at the totality of circumstances, he does have a problem… He hasn’t mastered how to manage (his fetishism) and has a maladaptive way of coping with stress in his life.
“In my view, that should be the critical factor to see if anything can be done to address the maladaptive way of coping with stress in his life.”
DPP Tan continued to argue that Low “knew he could get away” with stealing and his actions “does not show true de-escalation or remorse on how to control himself”, as his lawyer Chooi Jing Yen had claimed.
CJ Menon said Low’s attempt to get help did not mean that he had succeeded in staying away from crime. “He hasn’t, but he demonstrated a keenness to help himself,” he added.
“He had spent most of his adult life in prison... for ridiculous types of theft. He is not a vicious thief. He paid his price for all those offences.”
Pointing out that what emerged was Low’s poor way of coping with stress and not that he was greedy, the Chief Justice said: “Low has an ability to stop himself, but (the processes in between are) complex and involve a range of factors. It is not right to ignore fetishism.”
