Home Briefs: Principal who pocketed $155k jailed

Principal who pocketed $155k jailed

A former principal of a pre-school who pocketed about $155,000 over 3 1/2 years was jailed for 16 months yesterday.

Jaya Letchmi Soma Sundram, 49, had pleaded guilty to one count of misappropriating $69,334 when she was the principal at Kinderland Educare Services' Lorong Buangkok branch between January and July 2014.

The total sum she misappropriated was $154,760. She had made partial restitution of $30,000.

Part of Jaya's duties was to collect school fees from current and enrolling students. These cash payments were to have been recorded electronically. Instead, she procured 10 volumes of manual receipts from a printing shop which she issued to parents when she collected money.

Man, nephew sentenced for fighting

A cleaning supervisor kicked and punched a man after accusing him of flirting with his fiancee, a court heard.

Yesterday, Muhammad Sarifie Surat, 31, was sentenced to one year's jail for causing grievous hurt to Mr Tharma Govindarajan, 34, at the walkway outside Shaw House, Orchard Road, at 6.04am on May 16 last year.

While on bail, he took methamphetamine, also known as Ice, on May 24 this year, and was sentenced to five years' jail and three strokes of the cane. The sentences are consecutive.

In the same court, his nephew, Asef Kurniawan Syah Komar Suhendar Muhadi, 29, admitted to kicking Mr Tharma's body and was sentenced to two weeks' jail, which he will serve after Hari Raya.

RP students to work on app for STB

Republic Polytechnic (RP) students can now contribute to a mobile application that will be used by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to enhance tourists' experiences.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed at RP yesterday, students will be able to work with local technology start-up LDR on a series of location-based apps, including one commissioned by the STB.

The app will feature various historical, cultural, arts, nature, lifestyle and heartland trails with "hot spots" that will trigger interactive content based on the user's location.

It will be soft launched in September with at least 15 trails and 200 hotspots, and a targeted 30 trails and 400 hotspots by its official launch next April.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 28, 2016, with the headline Home Briefs: Principal who pocketed $155k jailed . Subscribe