SINGAPORE — Over three months, a Ninja Van delivery driver deliberately did not scan some parcels as part of the tracking procedure, setting aside 147 items worth S$12,000 in his delivery route to keep for himself.

For one count of criminal breach of trust by dishonest misappropriation, Adrian Chong Yuan Kit, 38, was sentenced to seven months' jail on Tuesday (Aug 11).

The court heard that Chong worked as a delivery driver for Ninja Van Logistics, tasked to deliver parcels to customers along routes in Choa Chu Kang.

When he reported for work, he was assigned parcels and was required to use the Ninja Van application to scan all the parcels before loading them into a van to deliver them.

The scanning process was crucial, as an error message would be displayed if the driver mistakenly scanned a parcel not meant for his pallet.

This would prompt the driver to return the parcel to the supervisor in charge, so that it would be routed to the right driver, and the error message would be recorded in the system.

In end-April this year, Ninja Van conducted an internal audit to establish how many parcels had been lost and how to better streamline the system.

During the audit, the company noticed a spike in the number of missing items under Chong's charge since February 2020.

On May 21, a manager at Ninja Van placed a parcel meant for delivery outside Chong's assigned route on Chong's assigned pallet.

The parcel contained a bottle of Dettol soap and a Huawei mobile phone. 

If Chong scanned the parcel, he would receive an error message to return it to his supervisor. The manager watched as Chong finished loading all the parcels from his assigned pallet into his van, but did not receive any error message for the planted parcel.

He confronted Chong and found the parcel in his van, and Chong admitted taking it dishonestly. The manager called the police that day.

Investigations revealed that Chong would deliberately not scan parcels containing items he was interested in between February this year and May 21. Instead, he loaded these parcels into his van and dropped them off at his home before delivering the rest of the parcels.

He dishonestly misappropriated a total of 147 items, including several electronics and toiletries such as a massage machine, a gaming monitor, a TV set-top box, hand sanitiser, mobile phones and soap.

The total value of the items was S$12,104. The police raided Chong's home and recovered all the items.

TRULY SORRY: ACCUSED

Deputy Public Prosecutor Bjorn Tan asked for seven months' jail, noting the premeditation in the case, the significant number of items taken and the period of about three months over which he offended.

Chong, who was unrepresented, said he was "truly sorry" for his mistake.

He said the reason he did this was because he hoped to "gain respect" for his family. He said he was raising his daughter by himself and was the sole breadwinner with an autistic brother and handicapped father.

"My whole family, I'm the only one working and supporting (them). I've already realised that this is not the way to gain ... a happy life for them," he said.

"I should be working hard at my job with no shortcuts to give them a happy life. I promise I will be a good and better father, son (and) brother ... if given a chance. I promise I will not repeat my mistake again."

The judge granted him a deferment of his sentence to Aug 18 so that he could make arrangements for his family.

For criminal breach of trust as an employee, he could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined. CNA

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