No diplomatic interventions to influence legal outcome of Italian swimmers who shoplifted at Changi Airport

SINGAPORE: When a pair of Italian swimmers were arrested and briefly detained after a shoplifting incident at Changi Airport last month, it made the news, not just locally but around the globe.

The Singapore Police Force said that Chiara Tarantino, 22, and Benedetta Pilato, 20, were given a one-year conditional warning and have been barred from entering the city-state.

The woman had taken items worth S$150, which were recovered.

“After consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, and in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), the two women were administered a 12-month conditional warning on Aug 19,” the Police said.

In the wake of the incident, Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Gerald Giam (Aljunied) directed some questions to the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam, who addressed these on Wednesday (September 24).

Mr Giam asked what the protocol is for the investigation and release of foreign visitors detained for a criminal offence, and whether diplomatic intervention from a foreign embassy can influence the legal outcome of this kind of case. Moreover, he asked why the swimmers were issued only a warning and an entry ban for the shoplifting offence.

In his reply, Mr Shanmugam said that after the swimmers were arrested at Changi Airport, they asked for consular access, which is why the police informed the Italian embassy of the matter.

He underlined, however, that “there were no diplomatic interventions to influence the legal outcome” of the shoplifting incident.

Based on the offence they committed, the swimmers were “treated in accordance with a framework for treating offenders,” he added.

As Singapore is a party to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, foreigners who break the law are told that they have a right to consular access when they are arrested or detained. If they choose to do so, their embassies are informed in order for consular assistance to be extended.

However, Mr Shanmugam pointed out that this consular assistance has “no bearing on the investigation process and legal outcome.”

According to a CNA report, the Minister added that the AGC and the Police had deemed that the 12-month conditional warning was an appropriate course of action for the case of the shoplifting incident, and that since the swimmers are foreigners, they were banned from entry as well.

The shoplifting incident

Ms Pilato and Ms Tarantino had been in Singapore from Jul 11 to Aug 3 to take part in the World Aquatics Championships. Afterward, they took a side trip to Bali and returned to Singapore on Aug 14. From there, they were scheduled to fly home to Italy.

While the two were at Changi Airport Ms Tarantino was seen on camera taking three bottles of perfume from a duty-free shop. According to a report in Gazzetta dello Sport, Ms Tarantino then placed the bottles into Ms Pilato’s luggage.

They were then apprehended by Singaporean authorities. /TISG

Read related: Italian World Aquatics medallist held in Changi shoplifting case claims she’s ‘learned great lessons’ from incident