Wednesday 27 November 2013

Thief jailed for snatching iPhone from park woman

A THIEF who stole an iPhone from a woman on a park bench has been jailed for four months.

The father-of-two, from Summerhill Place, Dublin 1, admitted stealing the iPhone 5 in August and damaging it by trying to throw it in a river.
At Dublin District Court, judge Grainne Malone said his crime was one "particularly targeted against women".
FLED
Giving evidence, garda Sheng Ke said that Ryan took the phone from the victim as she sat on a bench in Fairview Park in the late afternoon.
The defendant fled in the direction of Ballybough, but was spotted running down the road by garda Ke, who ordered him to stop.
After Ryan failed to do so, the officer gave chase and saw the defendant throw the phone towards a river, only for it to hit the railings and bounce back.
The court was told that Ryan has 62 previous convictions for offences including burglary. However, he had only committed one crime as an adult and that was a public order offence.
Questioned by barrister Brian Storan, officer Ke agreed that no violence was used in the theft, and that the defendant and victim did not exchange words on the day in question.
Ryan had contested the charges before changing his plea to guilty for the hearing, which was attended by the victim and two witnesses.
The thief asked for time to pay compensation for the €100 of damage to the phone. Mr Storan also said his client was under pressure at the time of the crime due to drug debts.
He added that Ryan was looking after his children while his girlfriend was in full-time education.
Judge Malone said the victim had not had to give evidence, but she also took into account the lateness of Ryan's plea.
"The taking of mobile phones in this city seems to be particularly an offence targeted against women", she added.
CHALLENGE
"Whether that is because the perpetrators think that women would be less likely to go after them and challenge them I don't know.
"For somebody to have a mobile phone and feel too afraid to take it out of their pocket is, to put it mildly, a serious inconvenience.
"What is the point of having a phone if you are too afraid to take it out and use it because somebody like Mr Ryan will come and snatch it out of your hand?"

Monday 25 November 2013

Thief copies out 11 pages of contacts after stealing man's iPhone in China taxi

A CHINESE thief painstakingly wrote out 11 pages of telephone numbers from a stolen iPhone and sent them to the owner, state media says.
The pickpocket is believed to have taken the Apple handset from Zou Bin when they shared a taxi, the Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Mr Zou had nearly 1000 contact numbers in the device and with no backup copy - like millions of other people around the world - he was more concerned about losing the data than the phone itself, it added.
"I know you are the man who sat beside me. I can assure you that I will find you," he said in a text message to the thief.
"Look through the contact numbers in my mobile and you will know what trade I am in," he added. "Send me back the phone to the address below if you are sensible."
The tone of the message was unmistakably threatening - Mr Zou works in the pub industry, which in China is widely held to have links with gangs.
Days later he received a parcel containing his SIM card and 11 pages of carefully handwritten contact numbers, Xinhua said, adding he was "fossilised" by the result - a Chinese colloquialism for astonished.
It would take a while to write from one to one thousand, let alone names and a whole string of digits. I suppose (the thief's) hand is swelling," Mr Zou was quoted as saying.
The theft earlier this month is believed to have happened somewhere between Yiyang and Changsha in the central province of Hunan.
Chinese internet users gave the thief plaudits for his efforts, dubbing him "the conscience of the (theft) industry".
One user of Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter, posted: "What a sympathetic and faithful thief, one who values professional ethics."

 Zou Bin said he was 'astonished' when the thief of his iPhone sent him 11 handwritten pages of his entire contact list