Jail for underwear thief found with more than 100 pairs of women’s undergarments

• So Chik Hwee felt an urge to steal the underwear when he saw them hanging outside a flat
• He stole underwear from two other homes
• Police found 60 pairs of bras and 44 panties at his home

SINGAPORE — After seeing women’s underwear hanging outside a flat at Tanjong Pagar Plaza, So Chik Hwee broke into the unit intending to steal all the underwear he could find.

While he was in the midst of the act, a domestic worker and the homeowner’s child returned, but he managed to hide in a bedroom until the coast was clear.

The Singapore permanent resident from Malaysia, who has a fetishistic disorder, did this twice more at other flats.

The police found 60 pairs of bras and 44 panties at his home that they suspected had been stolen.

So, a 39-year-old acountant, was jailed for seven months and a week after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Jan 20) to one count of housebreaking and two counts of theft.

Three related charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

HID IN A ROOM BEFORE ESCAPING

The court heard that around noon on April 30, 2019, So was along the corridor on the 15th floor of a block at Tanjong Pagar Plaza when he saw some bras and panties hanging outside a unit.

He felt an urge to take them and observed the unit for about 10 minutes to see if anyone was inside, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yonghui said.

Seeing as there was no activity inside the flat, he slid open a glass window next to the front door and unlocked it from the window.

He packed all the women’s underwear he could find and placed them into a plastic bag that he found lying on a table.

Before he could leave, a domestic worker and the homeowner’s child returned to the flat.

He quickly hid in a bedroom until it was safe for him to escape through the front door.

HAS FETISHISTIC DISORDER

Then on June 25, 2019, at around 8am, he took a lift to the top floor of a housing block and walked down the staircase to see if there was any underwear he could steal.

When he got to the fifth floor, he saw two women leaving their home. Noticing their door was unlocked, he went in and made off with 40 pairs of undergarments worth S$1,590.

In October last year, he stole 11 pairs of underwear that he had seen being hung to dry outside another unit.

An Institute of Mental Health doctor found that So had a fetishistic disorder, which gives him recurrent and intense sexual arousal from the panties.

“That said, (So) was still fully aware of the nature and wrongfulness of his acts at (the time of the offences), and was therefore not of unsound mind then,” DPP Chong said.

In mitigation, his lawyer Wee Hong Shern said that So was “thoroughly remorseful” and wishes to seek treatment for his psychiatric disorder after he finishes his prison sentence.

“No housebreaking tools were brought or employed by our client to commit the offences and he did not don stealth attire. This illustrates poor conception and execution of the offences,” Mr Wee said.

For housebreaking to commit theft, So could have been jailed up to 10 years. For theft in dwelling, he could have been jailed up to seven years or fined, or punished with both. For theft, he could have been jailed up to three years or fined, or both.