Maid jailed for stealing, returns most of the money using salary employer kept

SINGAPORE: A 25-year-old maid was sentenced to a month's jail on Friday (Sep 2) for stealing about S$4,600 from her employer's family.

She sent most of it home to Indonesia and used a portion to buy clothes, cosmetics and mobile phones.

Bela Kharisma Lut Fitriana made restitution of about S$3,500 using her salary that was kept by her employer. The court heard that she had no other finances to make up for the remainder.

Bela pleaded guilty to one charge of theft, with another charge taken into consideration.

The court heard that Bela began working for her employers in April 2020. She cooked for the family and did household chores, and was given access to the bedrooms of the first victim, a 42-year-old woman, as well as her 74-year-old father.

She found that the victim had a safe in a cupboard in her room, and saw the password written in a book. She also noticed that the victim's father would often leave his wallet in an unlocked drawer.

Between April and December 2021, Bela took at least S$1,468 from the safe and S$3,150 from the wallet.

She roped in a friend of hers, who was also a domestic helper, to remit a total of S$3,390 to her family in Indonesia over multiple occasions.

She also used the money to buy clothes, cosmetics, a watch and two mobile phones.

Meanwhile, the victims began noticing the missing cash. On Dec 30, 2021, the first victim questioned Bela about the missing money from the safe and wallet, and Bela admitted to stealing.

A police report was lodged and police seized 25 items that Bela had bought using the stolen money. These include jeans, jackets, shirts, liquid lipsticks, body lotion and night cream.

The prosecutor asked for one to two months' jail, saying Bela had committed the offences over a significant period of time. However, he also considered that restitution had been made.

Bela, who was unrepresented, asked for leniency through an interpreter. She said she would like to go home to Indonesia. 

When the judge asked if she could make the rest of the restitution, Bela said she had no other resources and not enough money.

Her jail term was backdated to her date of arrest in August this year.

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