Jailed for RM1.50 theft

KUALA LUMPUR: Filipina tourist Lopez Rosita who stole a wallet from a salesgirl at a department store containing just RM1.50 was jailed two months. 

The 55-year-old Rosita pleaded guilty to stealing the wallet from a 20-year-old salesgirl who was shopping at the Mydin department store in Jalan Masjid India on May 29. 

Rosita was caught by the store's security guards and handed over to the authorities the same day. 

She told the magistrate that she stole because her friend had cheated her of her money that she had toiled for years as a maid to saved up to visit Malaysia. 

In mitigation, she told the court that she had come to Malaysia as a tourist with 30,000 pesos (RM2,000) saved from her monthly salary of 1,500 pesos (RM100) from working as a maid in the Philippines. 

She said she had entrusted the money to a friend here who took off with it, leaving her penniless. 

“I had no money to go back to the Philippines and I had no choice but to resort to stealing so that I could eat,” she said. 

Magistrate Nazran Mohd Sham sentenced Rosita to two months' jail served from the date of her arrest.