By Sharanpal Singh Randhawa

KANGAR, MALAYSIA: We were hungry, with no money and no other choice. This defence from two girls aged 11 and 13, who were caught stealing a beauty salon owner's handphone, reduced the theft victim to tears.

The girls were questioned at the Kangar police station and victim Nuri Wardati Mohd Yunus, 32, cried when she heard why they had stolen her phone from her beauty salon in Jalan Seruling here.

Even the investigating officers were moved by the two girls' stories, said Kangar district police chief Superintendent Yusof Md Diah, who instructed his men to get the hungry girls some food.

It was learnt that the 13-year-old girl's father was in a mental institution while her mother had been detained for drug offences.

She now lives with her grandparents in Kampung Pondok near here. The 11-year-old girl is her cousin.

Yusof said the case would be handed to the Social Services Department for further action, adding that he would also seek the advice of the deputy public prosecutor.

The suspects were caught by Nuri herself, who noticed them trying to sell the phone about 50 metres away from her salon.

Nuri, who had been a snatch theft victim before, said she pitied the two girls. "I would have given them food and money if only they had asked me."

-New Straits Times/Asia News Network

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