Man stole over 10,000 chickens to pay off gambling debts
A man who stole more than 10,000 chickens was jailed yesterday.
Au Yong Seh Enn, 33, was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to stealing a total of 10,576 chickens and five cartons of chicken wings.
The Malaysian was the operations manager of Hy-Fresh Industries, a fresh and frozen chicken distributor, from December 2013.
From Sept 1 to Nov 18 last year, Au Yong stole the chickens and sold them to third parties, pocketing the money.
He made more than $50,000 from the sale of his loot, which was valued at about $30,500.
The court was told the cost for each chicken was $2.86, while the cartons of chicken wings were valued at about $225.
Au Yong used the money to clear his gambling debts and pay off unlicensed moneylenders.
CONFESSED
He was found out after discrepancies in the company's available stock were reported on Nov 18 last year and investigated internally. After being confronted, Au Yong confessed on Jan 6 to stealing the chickens.
The director of the company made a police report on Jan 7, and the accused was arrested about three hours later.
The stolen chickens were not recovered, and no restitution has been made.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Rimplejit Kaur urged the court to jail him for 18 months, adding that Au Yong was the sole mastermind behind the plot.
Au Yong said he had nothing to say in mitigation.
District Judge Sarah Tan said she found the suggested sentence by the prosecution on the high side before passing the sentence.
She also backdated the sentence to Jan 9, from when Au Yong has been in remand.
For theft as a servant, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.
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