The Singapore Police Force yesterday (November 23) said that it had given a 12-month conditional warning to three teenagers who were allegedly involved in a case of theft at a mall along Orchard Road earlier this month.
They were part of a group of six Australian schoolgirls who were arrested by the authorities here on November 13 for allegedly shoplifting from Victoria’s Secret and Crocs stores.
The police yesterday said that the three other girls were given a stern warning.
“The police, in consultation with the Attorney general’s Chambers, have administered a 12-month conditional warning to three of the teenagers and a stern warning to the other three.”
Conditional warnings typically contain the condition that the suspect must remain crime-free for a period ranging from one to three years after its issuance. The authorities reserve the right to prosecute the suspect for the original crime for which he or she was warned, as well as for any fresh offences.
Investigations into the case revealed that the six, aged between 14 and 16, were found to be in possession of stolen items.
The police said that the punishment meted out to the six took into account, “among other factors, their ages and the extent of the individual involvement” into the crime.
TODAY had earlier reported that the six teenagers are purportedly Year 10 students from Australia’s Bacchus Marsh Grammar, an elite private school near Melbourne.
They were among a group of 18 schoolgirls in Singapore for a regional netball competition, several Australian media outlets reported.
The six were accused of shoplifting from Victoria’s Secret, a lingerie store, and Crocs shoes store, and were “behind bars for 10 hours” after they were caught, Australia’s 9News outlet reported.
Daily Mail Australia previously reported that closed-circuit television footage had caught the teenagers “stashing away expensive underwear” before leaving the Victoria’s Secret shop without paying.
On Tuesday, several Australian media outlets reported that the group of Australian students had returned home.
The Herald Sun, a tabloid newspaper in Melbourne, reported that the six girls, along with others who were not involved in the alleged theft, had been allowed to travel back to Australia together.
Bacchus Marsh Grammar principal Andrew Neal told the publication: “Everyone is here and they all came in on the same flight… All matters have been resolved and the girls were allowed to proceed to the airport with no further action.
“It was a bit delicate but this is a good outcome.”
https://www.malaymail.com/news/singapore/2022/11/24/three-australian-schoolgirls-arrested-for-shoplifting-from-singapore-mall-get-12-month-conditional-warning-three-others-get-stern-warning/41623
Category: Singapore
