SINGAPORE — While on holiday with his girlfriend in Bangkok last year, Ivan Lee Yu Guang told her that he needed to return home as his aunt was in hospital.

Immediately after arriving in Singapore, he used his girlfriend’s house keys to break into her flat and stole her S$5,588 Rolex watch. He then pawned it to repay his gambling debts.

He had also stolen his girlfriend’s elder sister’s Rolex the day before the couple left for Bangkok.

On Tuesday (Sept 3), the 26-year-old unemployed man was sentenced to one year and three months’ jail.

He had pleaded guilty to one count of theft in dwelling and one count of housebreaking, with another charge of housebreaking taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Lee first stole the sister’s watch around March 6 last year, when he was at the Punggol flat where the two women lived.

While his girlfriend, 22-year-old Mavis Tay, was sleeping, he searched Ms Tay’s bedroom and pilfered her sister’s S$8,788 Rolex. It was not stated where her sister was at the time.

Lee then left the flat and went to a ValueMax pawnshop in Sengkang, where he sold the watch for S$5,000. He kept S$500 for his own expenses and used the remainder to repay his gambling debts.

The next morning, Lee and Ms Tay left for their flight. He locked the Punggol flat’s main door and gate using her keys, but kept them after she “inadvertently failed to take the keys back”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ashraf Hassan told the court.

On March 10 last year, Lee told Ms Tay at about 6am that he needed to return to Singapore urgently. She helped him to buy a last-minute plane ticket back.

After getting back at 10.30am that day, he went to her flat and let himself in with her keys. He took Ms Tay’s watch from her bedroom and went to the Maxi-Cash pawnshop at Serangoon Central.

He managed to sell it for S$2,550 — about half of its value.

Ms Tay returned to Singapore at 12.30am the next day. Lee sent her text messages when she landed, saying the two watches had been stolen by his friend whom he had taken to the flat.

At about 5.30am that day, Lee fled to Bangkok and stayed there for about three-and-a-half months.

He was arrested when he returned to Singapore on June 27 last year.

District Judge Samuel Chua allowed Lee to begin serving his sentence on Sept 16. He remains out on bail.

For housebreaking to commit theft, Lee could have been jailed for up to 10 years. For theft in dwelling, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.