Man gets five months in prison for smashing ATM

A man was sentenced to five months in prison for smashing an automatic teller machine (ATM) that ate his bank card, Xuhui District People's Court announced Wednesday.

The defendant, whom the court called "A Jun," withdrew 2,500 yuan ($395) from the ATM around 11 pm in Xuhui district on the first day of the May Day holiday. He was chatting with his friends at the time and failed to notice the countdown on screen that showed how much time he had to remove his card from the machine, according to a press release from the court.

A cash machine typically retains a bank card for security reasons if a customer forgets to remove it after finishing his or her business.

The defendant got angry and smashed the machine with his mobile phone, breaking its screen, according to the court. The court said it cost the bank about 7,800 yuan to replace the screen. Police arrested him a week later.

The court said the suspect intentionally caused destruction of property that led to a large financial loss.