SINGAPORE: An Indian-origin policewoman in Singapore was sentenced to seven months in jail on Monday for criminal breach of trust for misappropriating two police-issued ipads by pawning them at a shop.
Hemavathy Gunasekaran, 37, pawned the two police-issued iPads worth more than SGD 900 (USD 646) at a shop for which she received SGD 300 (USD 215) in return, the court heard.
The devices were later resold to other people when she did not redeem them, The Straits Times reported.
Following a trial, District Judge Salina Ishak had found her guilty of the offence last month.
Gunasekaran, who held the rank of Sergeant 2, joined the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 2005 and was deployed to the Marina Bay Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) four years later.
Her duties included conducting house visits to educate the public on SGSecure, Singapore's community response to the terrorism threat.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Foo Shi Hao said in his submissions that at times, such duties involved the use of two SPF-issued iPads, which her colleagues handed to her in November 2016.
The DPP added that the policewoman misappropriated the devices on December 8 that year and pawned them for SGD 300 at a Jurong West mobile phone shop.
The iPads were later found missing at her workplace and one of her superiors, Assistant Superintendent Tam Chin Kong, repeatedly asked her to look for them in early September 2017, the report said.
Tam later filed a police report.
For criminal breach of trust as a public servant, Gunasekaran could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined.