Security Guard Fined S$1,200 for Taking Laptop Left Behind By Student Instead of Returning It

By
Shawn Ambrose
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What would you do if you came across money or an expensive item that belongs to someone else?

If you happened to be starring in a movie at the time of the discovery, an angel on your right shoulder would urge you to hand it over to the police.

Five seconds later, a tiny devil will pop up on your left shoulder and push you to keep it for yourself.

The right thing to do, of course, is to make sure that the lost property is returned to its rightful owner.

However, when no one is looking, not everyone will do the right thing.

Security Guard Fined S$1,200 for Taking Laptop Left Behind By Student Instead of Returning It

At around 4:00pm on 27 July, 2017, a teenage student at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) packed his things to head home but forgot his laptop and its accompanying bag.

Like his schoolmates, the student was issued a Chromebook laptop by the school.

He only realised his mistake at around 7:00pm that day, and told his mother who contacted the school.

The school checked the canteen the next day, but could not find either the laptop nor its accompanying bag.

So, the mother lodged a police report a few days later.

Police investigations revealed that a 61-year-old security guard, Ramdas Gurusamy, was doing his security rounds at the canteen later in the day at 11pm.

He came across a bag with a laptop inside, and instead of reporting it to the school or police, he took it home with him.

Unbeknownst to Ramdas, the device came installed with a software called Goguardian, which allows the school to block access to certain websites and monitor the students’ online activities.

More importantly, it also enables the school to determine the laptop’s geolocation.

On 25 July that year, the school managed to trace the laptop to Ramdas’ address, who made no attempt to return the laptop to its owner.

The laptop, along with the bag, was worth S$542.

Fined S$1,200

On Monday (14 Jun), the 61-year-old was fined S$1,200 after pleading guilty to one count of dishonest misappropriation.

He has since made restitution to the victim, and the judge accepted that he was remorseful for his actions.

But he was handed a fine as he had misappropriated the laptop while he was working as a security guard.

For his offence, Ramdas could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.

Investigations showed that Ramdas searched for songs on the laptop. So, at least he didn’t do anything too incriminating with it.

Feature Image: Google Maps

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]