SINGAPORE — Before breaking up with his girlfriend in 2019, Moreno Nino Jusner Jashua Taguibao duplicated her house keys and held onto them without her knowledge.

When he could not repay his loans, the Filipino used the keys to break into her public housing flat at least nine times. 

He stole cash and jewellery, and pawned them for more money.

Undeterred when she changed the locks, Moreno showed a forged police report to a locksmith to get the man to unlock the door.

Moreno, 27, was on Tuesday (Aug 3) jailed for a year and 10 months.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of housebreaking to commit theft and another count of forgery for the purpose of cheating. 

Two similar charges were considered during sentencing.

The court heard that Moreno and his ex-girlfriend, 23, got into a relationship in 2015 after meeting on dating application Tinder. 

Her name was redacted from court documents.

He moved into her unit three years later and she gave him a set of keys.

When they broke up in September 2019, he returned the keys but kept the set that he had duplicated for himself. 

In January last year, he borrowed money from a licensed moneylender but could not service his loan payments. 

Moreno was then unemployed.

From February last year to January this year, he broke into her home to steal S$12,500 in cash and many pieces of jewellery. 

These included gold and diamond rings, pendants, bangles, ear studs and chains. He pawned them at various pawnshops for about S$27,000.

On March 18, just before Moreno headed to his ex-girlfriend’s unit, he had a feeling that she could have changed the locks. 

He took a screenshot of a police report, used PDF (portable document format) editing software to change the address to hers, and saved it in his mobile phone.

Later that day, he went to the unit and noticed that the locks had indeed been changed.

He contacted locksmith Koh Boon Chye and showed the man the forged police report as proof that he lived there. 

Mr Koh dismantled the padlock on the metal gate and picked open the door lock. 

A neighbour saw what was happening, took a video and sent it to the victim, who was at work. She called the police.

Moreno paid Mr Koh and entered the unit, and was later arrested.

For housebreaking to commit theft, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined. Forgery carries the same punishment.