A 71-year-old woman in Nantou has been convicted of theft over a single piece of fruit, a costly ending to years of small-time pilfering her neighbors had let slide.

• She took a dragon fruit worth NT$176 from a shoe rack outside a neighbor's door early one morning.
• Security cameras confirmed she took it after she denied the theft and argued with the neighbor.
• Her defense was that the fruit was rotting and leaking, so she threw it away to keep the rack clean.
• The neighbor had already warned her after a child's toy went missing, and prosecutors had let an earlier theft case go without charges.
• The court gave her 30 days' detention, convertible to a fine of NT$30,000, since she never returned the fruit, denied intent, and reached no settlement.

Outlook: The fine stands unless she appeals, and neighbors who once looked the other way now have a court ruling behind them.