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Tourist jailed for shoplifting almost S$19,000 worth of Gucci clothing because it was ‘easy’

SINGAPORE — A tourist was sentenced to nine weeks’ jail on Thursday (Aug 22) for stealing luxury apparel worth S$18,750 in total from Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Paragon shopping mall.

Tourist Huang Shiyuan was sentenced to nine weeks’ jail on Thursday (Aug 22) for stealing luxury apparel worth S$18,750 in total from Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Paragon shopping mall.

Tourist Huang Shiyuan was sentenced to nine weeks’ jail on Thursday (Aug 22) for stealing luxury apparel worth S$18,750 in total from Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Paragon shopping mall.

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SINGAPORE — A tourist was sentenced to nine weeks’ jail on Thursday (Aug 22) for stealing luxury apparel worth S$18,750 in total from Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Paragon shopping mall.

Huang Shiyuan, 26, had gotten away twice after first stealing from the Gucci store in MBS and then Paragon in December last year.

But when she revisited the MBS store for her third attempt, the Chinese national was nabbed. She admitted that she had done it again because of her previous successes, and thought it was “easy to steal from Gucci”.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of theft, with another charge taken into consideration for sentencing.

In passing sentence, District Judge Marvin Bay referred to Huang’s two psychiatric reports, which stated that she was suffering from major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder. 

Nevertheless, one psychiatrist said that her conditions did not contribute to her offences, which he opined were motivated by personal gain. 

The judge agreed that Huang’s acts were “not impulsive in nature”, and that she had “opportunistically exploited the discretion afforded to customers to try out apparel at their own leisure in the changing room”.

“While it seems perplexing that she has paid for items in other luxury stores (there were purchases of S$870 at a Ferragamo outlet and more than S$7,000 from Louis Vuitton stores, as well as S$325 from Coach), it might well be that she assessed the Gucci store to be less insulated against theft,” District Judge Bay added.

WHAT SHE DID

Huang arrived in Singapore on Dec 14 last year.

Two days later, she stole a S$4,500 beige Gucci cardigan with crystal motifs from the store at MBS.

The next day, she went into the changing room of the Gucci store at Paragon with a black cardigan worth S$2,430. After removing its price tag, she put it in her bag.

She did the same thing with a blue lace blouse valued at S$2,920 and left the store.

Two days later, at about 5pm, Huang revisited the Gucci store at MBS.

Using the same modus operandi, she took a white lace blouse worth S$4,400 and a pink cardigan valued at S$4,500.

This time, the store manager called the police and told them that a woman who stole from the shop previously was “back here again”.

Police officers detained Huang when she left the fitting room. She admitted that she had the means to pay for the items.

For theft in dwelling, she could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.

Related topics

court crime shoplifting

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