SINGAPORE, June 25 — A wedding lunch at the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach turned into a nightmare for a newlywed couple when nearly S$50,000 (RM165,658) in red packets was stolen from their reception by a former banquet server.

The Straits Times reported that Lee Yi Wei, 36, was sentenced to 12 months’ jail yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of theft and one count of gambling with an unlicensed service provider.

The court also ordered him to repay the stolen amount, or face an additional 100 days in jail.

Lee, a habitual gambler, made off with two money boxes containing S$48,939 during the wedding event on April 5.

According to State Prosecuting Officer Segathesan Kannapan, he had previously worked at the hotel and was familiar with its ballroom layout and reception arrangements.

Knowing that red packet collections were typically placed on a registration table in the foyer, Lee struck when the area was momentarily unattended at about 12.50pm.

The theft was discovered shortly after, and the wedding organiser contacted police around 1pm after reviewing CCTV footage showing Lee’s actions.

Investigations revealed that Lee hid the money in a locker at the National Library in Bugis. He used S$348 of the stolen cash to buy new clothes at Bugis Junction, changed into them, then retrieved the rest of the money before spending another S$60 on clothes at Raffles City Shopping Centre.

That same day, he deposited S$36,331 of the stolen cash into a bank account via multiple ATMs, converting the sum into online gambling credits. Over the next two days, he placed 195 bets on an unlicensed gambling website and used another S$12,200 to gamble at a Singapore Pools outlet in Middle Road.

When Lee was arrested on April 7, police recovered S$3,000 in cash from him.

Appearing in court without a lawyer, Lee said in mitigation: "I should have thought of the consequences... (It was because) of my own gambling addiction, and I acted out of desperation.”

In response, District Judge Christopher Goh questioned his motives: "So this is the kind of thing that you do to a person on the day of their wedding?” Lee was unable to respond.

The judge stressed that the theft was premeditated, not a crime of impulse. The court also heard that Lee had a previous conviction for criminal breach of trust, for which he had served a 10-week sentence.

Lee has been in remand since May and has begun serving his sentence.