SINGAPORE - Before shifting homes, an upscale condo resident placed two expensive diamond rings on a table and forgot completely about them. Spotting the diamond rings unattended during the move, a part-time mover pocketed the items and carried on with his work.

On Monday, the mover, Azeman Rahmat, 40, was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing Ms Jolly Wu Dun Yi's property from her Reflections at Keppel Bay home, around 9.40am on June 24.

The court heard that Ms Wu, 30, hired Shalom Movers to transfer furniture to her new home but had placed her engagement and wedding rings on a table in her daughter's bedroom the evening before the move. She left the unit along Keppel Bay after briefing a team of workers from the firm. Among them was Azeman, then a part-time mover.

The 40-year-old took the items, worth $58,797, after entering the room while packing other items.

After realising she was not wearing the rings around 11.20am and calling her maid to check the room, Ms Wu called the police.

Azeman, when he heard about this and who was still in the unit at that time, panicked and threw the loot into a cleaning trolley near the lift lobby outside. But he admitted what he had done after the rings were later found following an extensive search.

For theft in dwelling, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.