Caught in the act: Elderly man who steals money from the temple bows to statue for his sin before walking away

SINGAPORE: A man was caught in the act of stealing money from a temple bowl in front of a statue, and eventually bowed, seemingly asking for forgiveness, before leaving the area as if nothing had happened.

As reported by Shin Min Daily News, there were three staff members in the temple at the time of the incident, including two administrators who were responsible for managing the temple and a secretary on duty at the front desk.  At the time of the event, the two temple caretakers were cleaning up the area surrounding the main altar, and the secretary was handling administrative work in the office. Since they were busy, they did not manage to notice the elderly man’s actions.

As seen on the surveillance camera, the elderly man approached the statue while the staff were looking away and reached into the wishing bowl to take money. He did not leave immediately, but the man was also seen bowing before the statue, as if asking for forgiveness. The entire process took less than five minutes. 

People pointed out that the temple had never seen the old man before. However, given that the crime was committed as swiftly as possible, they believed that the man may have visited the temple beforehand and studied the environment. Moreover, the man only took money from the wishing bowl placed in front of the statue, and not from the four official donation boxes in the temple. 

“Practitioners usually put in coins or banknotes after making a wish. We usually empty the money from the alms bowl at the end of the day and then put it into the official donation box,” a man stated. 

Due to this crime, the temple lost an amount of approximately $200. The police confirmed that they received the incident and that the investigation is still ongoing. 

“Although the amount is not large, we hope to raise awareness by making this public. We also want people to know that no matter what difficulties they encounter, it is wrong to take money from the temple in this way.”

Other related news

In other news related to stealing, there was a report that an Australian man was caught stealing two bottles of perfume at the Changi Airport when he was about to leave the country last year. 

The authorities successfully arrested the man as he tried to re-enter Singapore last month, and he was sentenced to imprisonment.

Read more about the news incident here.