Maid stole fellow Indonesian's passport from HOME shelter in bid to flee Singapore, gets jail

SINGAPORE: Hoping to go home to Indonesia, a foreign domestic worker staying at a shelter for maids stole a passport belonging to a fellow resident and tried to pose as the passport holder in an attempt to leave Singapore.

Susi Nur Handayani, 27, was sentenced to four months' jail on Friday (Oct 25) for her actions.

She pleaded guilty to one charge of theft and another of attempting to cheat by personation, with a third charge taken into consideration.

At the time of the offence in September this year, Susi - whose passport had been impounded by the police pending an investigation - was staying at a shelter run by Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) with three other Indonesian women who had worked in Singapore as maids.

The other women are co-accused Maya Putri Lestari, 26, and the victims Ipah, 36, and Mutmainah Ismail Romli, 42.

Susi wanted to go home to Batam, Indonesia, and had devised a plan with Maya to leave Singapore illegally by using passports belonging to other residents at the shelter, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Senthilkumuran Sabapathy.

First, she borrowed Ipah's passport to buy a mobile SIM card on the night of Sep 7, the court heard.

She then stole Mutmainah's passport, which was kept in a drawer in HOME's office.

At about 2am the following morning, Susi left the shelter with Maya and headed to the Singapore Cruise Centre in HarbourFront, where Susi bought a boarding pass in Ipah's name.

She handed the boarding pass and Ipah's passport to an inspector at the immigration checkpoint and tried to deceive him into believing she was Ipah.

However, her fingerprints did not match Ipah's, and neither did Maya's match Mutmainah's.

The two women were apprehended by immigration officers. Maya was issued a stern warning for her involvement in the incident.

For attempting to cheat by personation, Susi could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.

For theft in dwelling, she could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.