A Malaysian man who stole a car from a condominium carpark was jailed for 14 months and banned from driving for 18 months on Tuesday.

Philip Lim Chee Shong, 33, admitted to stealing lawyer Lim Meng Ern's black Volvo XC90 in the basement carpark of Southhaven 2 at Hindhede Walk in Bukit Timah on Jan 10 last year.

A district court heard that Philip Lim, whose wife is a Singaporean and lives here, had noticed that the door of the Volvo appeared to be unlocked when he was at the condominium carpark to park his Proton car. He had earlier helped a friend by taking her dog to the veterinarian, before going to dinner nearby.

Lim checked and found that the Volvo was indeed unlocked and the keys were in the driver's arm-rest compartment.

He then decided to drive to Malaysia for fun as he had never driven a Volvo before.

He drove six hours to his house in Ipoh. He continued driving the car there until the following month when he met with an accident. He sent the car to a workshop for repair.

On Feb 27 last year, he took a bus to enter Singapore and retrieved his Proton from the condominium.

In the course of investigation, he admitted to intending to keep the stolen Volvo for his use in Malaysia.

The insurance company has since compensated $76,000 to the victim.

Lim could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for theft.