Singapore man sentenced for stealing smelly shoes

SINGAPORE, March 5 (Reuters) - A man who stole smelly shoes because he was
addicted to their odour was sentenced to 25 weeks in jail by a Singapore court,
the Straits Times newspaper reported on Friday.

Lorry driver Zainal Mohamed Esa, 43, did not steal the shoes to sell, but out
of a ``burning desire, akin to that of a drug addict, to sniff used pairs of
shoes,'' his lawyer Rai Ratan Kumar was quoted as saying.

Zainal, whose obsession was a psychological need, said his lawyer, kept the
shoes until the smell waned and then gave them to the Salvation Army or tried
to return them to their owners.

Police got on the scent of the shoe thief after a tip-off from a resident
living near the site of the thefts.

Zainal had 40 pairs of shoes when he was caught last November. In January the
police caught him again with 28 pairs.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and two counts of fraudulent
possession and is out on bail until his sentence starts on April 1.