Man jailed ten months for stealing S$24k of jewellery
Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — He had walked into a jewellery shop and said he wished to purchase 30 rings. While the sales staff took out an array of 35 rings for him to choose from, he distracted her and pocketed three of them by sleight of hand, leaving the staff unaware until more than an hour after he left the shop.
For stealing some S$24,000 worth of jewellery over three days, David Hihinashvili was today (Oct 15) sentenced to ten months’ jail.
He faced one count of theft-in-dwelling and one count of refusing to have his blood samples taken for forensic analysis as part of investigations. A second count of theft was taken into consideration.
The court heard that Hihinashvili, a 68-year-old Israeli of Russian origin, had arrived in Singapore on May 5. On May 9 at about 11.30am, he walked into Venus Tears Jewellery in Ang Mo Kio Hub alone, and told the sales staff he wanted to buy 30 rings.
About 45 minutes after browsing through a selection of 35 rings, Hihinashvili told the staff he needed to exchange his US dollars for local currency and left the shop. At about 1.30pm, more than an hour after he left, the staff decided to put back all the rings.
That was when she realised that three rings with a total value of S$17,497 were missing and called the police. The missing rings included a 0.50 carat white gold diamond ring worth S$4,299, a 0.33 carat white gold diamond ring worth S$7,199, and a gold ring with 1.36 sapphire and 0.1 carat diamonds, worth S$5,999.
Investigations revealed that Hihinashvili had stolen each of the three rings by distracting the sales staff, and pocketed them while pretending to put them back into the display tray.
The court heard that two days before, he had stolen S$6,500 worth of gold chains and bracelets from a home along Serangoon Road.
Hihinashvili was arrested on May 14 at a hotel in Geylang, and his loot was seized by the police.
Pressing for a sentence of 12 months, Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang said Hihinashvili’s offences were deliberate and premeditated, and involved pocketing loot of large value with sleight of hand.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Amarick Gill Singh said that while the monetary value was large, Hihinashvili’s victims would not have suffered from monetary losses as the stolen items were recovered.
He added that Hihinashvili was of poor health, and had undergone a bypass graft surgery and several medical procedures at the Changi General Hospital and National Heart Centre over the last five months while he was on remand. Hihinashvili was wheelchair-bound while in court today. He spoke through a Russian interpreter.
Asking for a term of eight months, Mr Singh said: “He fully understands his folly and what he has done.”
In sentencing, District Judge Luke Tan said he took into account Hihinashvili’s medical condition, but noted that he “clearly possesses skills to carry out offences without being detected at the point it was committed”.
Hihinashvili’s sentence is backdated to May 16 when he was first remanded.
For committing theft in any building or vessel used as a human dwelling, Hihinashvili could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.
