A 50-year-old Indonesian maid in Singapore discovered the key to her employer’s drawer where valuables were kept while cleaning, and over seven months, stole jewelry and cash worth more than S$20,000. Each time after succeeding, she pawned the jewelry and remitted the stolen money to Indonesia. She was sentenced to 30 weeks’ imprisonment.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the defendant, Yuris Hayando (50 years old), faced a total of four charges, including theft and violation of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. On Friday (August 1), she pleaded guilty to two charges, while the other two were taken into consideration during sentencing.
According to the facts of the case, the defendant started working for the victim as a maid in 2015, and by the time of the incident had been employed for 10 years. At the time, she was living with her female employer and the employer’s two children at an HDB flat in Woodlands Avenue.
On March 8 this year, the employer discovered that cash kept in the cupboard was missing and asked the defendant if she had seen it. The defendant then admitted that she had stolen her employer’s jewelry and cash.
Investigations revealed that although the employer kept her valuables in a locked drawer, the defendant found the key while cleaning the flat and secretly used it to open the drawer and steal from it. Every time after a successful theft, she would take the jewelry to a pawnshop for cash. After confessing her crime to the employer, the defendant also handed over the pawn tickets to her.
Between August 18 last year and February 11 this year, the defendant committed theft 17 times, stealing jewelry worth about S$14,925 (about RM49,500). This included a S$1,582 gold necklace, a S$1,452 gold bracelet, as well as a S$1,360 gold pendant and chain, among other items.
The charges taken into consideration showed that besides jewelry, the defendant also stole S$6,900 in cash.
Between July 23 last year and February 26 this year, the defendant transferred a total of S$3,376 of stolen money to her sister and daughter in Indonesia over nine transactions.
The employer filed a police report on March 8, and the defendant was subsequently arrested. Police later managed to recover the stolen jewelry from the pawnshop.