Tip jar thief got $6.77 after paying $9.82 for meal he left behind

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The owner of a New Zealand restaurant said a man who stole a tip jar containing $6.77 forgot to take his food, which he had already purchased for $9.82.

Security camera footage posted to Facebook by Nando's Riccarton restaurant in Christchurch shows the man putting the tip jar which contained about $6.77 -- 10 in New Zealand dollars -- in his bag.

The suspect was confronted by owner Yateen Lallu after the man spent a few moments in the bathroom before the empty tip jar was discovered on the restroom floor.

"I said to him 'there's our tip jar', and he said 'it wasn't me, it must have been someone else'. I said 'are you sure? Are you telling the truth?' And he told me to check his bag and check the security cameras and I started to doubt myself," Lallu told Stuff.co.nz.

He said the man fled while he was reviewing security footage.

Lallu said the man's crime didn't turn any profit -- he had already paid $9.82, 14.50 New Zealand dollars, for a meal that he left behind.

"So it wasn't worth it, he had a bad day. It was not good karma for the poor bloke," Lallu said.

Police said they are looking into whether the man in the CCTV footage is the same man caught on camera in November stealing security cameras from the Casa Dei Bambini preschool in Richmond.