After news emerged that Thomas Chua Poh Heng — the man who has been condemned for criticizing a traffic police officer killed in the line of duty — was arrested on Sunday (June 4), more details about his case have come to light. The 39-year-old was charged today (June 5) with shoplifting a bottle of perfume at Mustafa Centre. More specifically, it was a 100ml bottle of Must de Cartier worth $98.
Chua, who works as a part-time deliveryman, had apparently walked out of the department store in the wee hours of Sunday morning without paying for the item. The police said that Mustafa Centre’s in-house security officers spotted him acting suspiciously and stopped him to conduct a spot check. That was when they found the perfume on him and handed him over to the police.
It is understood that Chua has three other police reports against him, and the alleged offences include shop thefts and traffic violations.
He will be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for two weeks for a psychiatric assessment and return to court on June 19. If convicted, he can be jailed up to seven years and fined.
