Alma, a 47-year-old Filipino maid who had been employed for over 10 years, succumbed to greed and stole jewelry and cash worth more than S$210,000 (about RM660,000) from her employer in several instances. She brought the loot back to the Philippines to buy an apartment, car, and farmland. On the 17th, she pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in prison.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the defendant had been employed by her landed property employer since 2016, and her work allowed her to freely enter and exit rooms. In 2022, she found a key in the employer's coat pocket and successfully tried it on the safe. Over the following year, at least three times, she took advantage of the family's absence to steal foreign currency and luxury jewelry such as Van Cleef & Arpels and Bulgari, and transported them back to the Philippines during her home leave to sell and splurge.
After acquiring a taste for it, the defendant ransacked the safe again in June 2024, stealing a large amount of gold and diamond jewelry to send home.
It was not until November last year that the employer began to notice missing cash, but initially thought it was a memory lapse. On May 27 this year, the employer installed a motion sensor surveillance camera in the bedroom, and two days later received a notification—the footage clearly showed the defendant rummaging through the safe. The employer immediately called the police. The defendant was arrested in the early hours of the following day. At present, most of the stolen goods have not been recovered, and the defendant has made no compensation.
● S$1,200 Monthly Salary, Still Borrows from Loan Sharks and Owes Employer
The defendant received a monthly salary of S$1,200 and an annual S$2,000 bonus from her employer, yet she frequently borrowed money from other maids and loan sharks, resulting in her employer being harassed by loan sharks.