Man Left Girlfriend in Thailand To Steal Her Rolex Watch in Singapore

Most of us have probably had at least one bad romance experience.

For girls, maybe your ex (hopefully) boyfriend was a prick.

Maybe he was physically abusive. Maybe he cheated on you with your best friend or your cat.

However, the Worst Boyfriend of the Year award goes to someone else. Probably.

The award goes to a 26-year-old man named Ivan Lee.

He was on a romantic trip in Bangkok with his girlfriend Mavis Tay in March last year.

Things were going merrily, probably feasting on basil chicken and tom yum soup, when suddenly, Ivan’s aunt was apparently admitted into the hospital.

He then urgently purchased a last-minute flight for himself to return to Singapore.

Ah, such a sweet nephew, right? What’s so bad about that?

It was a lie.

Upon arrival back in Singapore, he broke into his girlfriend’s house to steal her Rolex watch.

After his theft of Mavis’ S$5,588 watch, he pawned it at a Maxi-Cash pawnshop for S$2,550.

Not only that, before their Thailand trip when Mavis was sleeping, he also stole his girlfriend’s sister Rolex watch worth S$8,788 and pawned it at a ValueMax pawnshop for SGD $5,000.

Honestly, all these losses he made should be a crime on its own.

On top all of that, his girlfriend even paid for this last-minute flight back.

Where is his conscience?

And why do Mavis and her family members have so many Rolex watches while I can’t even afford a pasar malam watch?

Buried by his gambling debts.

As you would have guessed, someone in need of money that badly probably has debts.

I guess this is a worthy moment to point out the dangers of gambling. Never gamble what you don’t have.

If you are or know someone struggling with gambling addiction, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) website is available here and their hotline (1800-6-668-668) is open daily from 8 am to 11 pm.

Don’t wait till it’s too late.

After Mavis returned to Singapore at 12:30 a.m. the following day, Ivan lied that a friend he had over stole her watch.

Then later at 5:30 a.m., Ivan fled to Bangkok.

I don’t quite understand this move, but he was probably in a state of panic and afraid of getting caught.

He then stayed at Bangkok for three whole months, and I assume ate a lot of phad thai over there.

Ivan was eventually arrested when he returned to Singapore on 27 June.

He was sentenced to a jail term of one year and three months on 3 September 2019 (Tuesday).

For housebreaking to commit theft, he could have been jailed up to 10 years. I guess he can count himself lucky.

I suppose he traded in his gambling debts for a jail term.

And a girlfriend for an ex-girlfriend.