Singapore — A domestic helper stole thousands of dollars worth of jewellery and designer handbags and sold them to others for a fraction of the price was given a jail sentence of a little over a year on Monday (Feb 14).
Twenty-eight-year-old Meneses Princess Joy Domingo, a Filipino national, worked for a South Korean employer in Singapore.
She needed the money for her son’s surgery back home, as well as to pay for the debts she owed other friends in Singapore, CNA reported.
She stole a number of items from the woman she worked for, including a Hermes bracelet, two Tiffany rings, and five Chanel handbags.
Meneses claimed to have a boyfriend who worked for the IT department in Chanel who was able to get the bags at a discount, and then sold or gave away the stolen items to others.
And while the total amount of all the bags she stole is $24,812.50, the helper sold them for only $9,760.
As for the jewellery, she sold the rings to a Lucky Plaza Value Max store for $10,280, while she gave away the bracelet as a freebie who bought the Chanel bags from her.
In addition to stealing for her employer, Meneses also stole from her roommate in a hostel twice after she was charged and released on bail.
She pleaded guilty to one count of theft in dwelling and an amalgamated charge of theft by a servant, with a similar charge taken into consideration for her sentence, Yahoo!News Singapore reported.
Meneses, who started working for the South Korean woman on May 8, 2021, was treated well by her employer. The woman gave the helper extra money totalling $600 when she asked for it on three separate occasions.
The employer started noticing that her rings were missing the month after Meneses started working for her, but thought they had just been misplaced. But by August, when a number of her Chanel bags were also missing, the employer filed a police report against the helper.
Four of the stolen bags, the two rings, and the bracelet were later recovered.
With the money she obtained from the pilfered goods, the helper paid back loans she had made to friends, as well as sent money home to the Philippines to her mother and child.
However, even after she was caught and released on bail, she still stole $450 from her roommate, a Chinese national, at Heritage Hostel on two occasions.
The roommate filed a police report against Meneses on Oct 16, 2021. She confessed to having taken the money on Oct 20.
She has not made any restitution to the other woman and only sent $100 home while spending the rest on herself.
For the charge of theft by a servant, the prosecution asked that she be jailed for 15 to 18 months. And for the charge of theft in dwelling, a two to four-week jail sentence was sought.
She could have been jailed for as long as seven years for the charge of theft by a servant, as well as been made to pay a fine.
Meneses has been in remand since December. /TISG
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