Singapore ― A foreign domestic helper took S$12,000 from her employer and spent the money on luxuries, and an iPhone 12, before throwing a bundle of notes out the window in a panic.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the owners of a food and beverage stall had difficulty depositing their weekly earnings, so they kept the money at home.
Their domestic helper from Indonesia, Aryani, worked for them in their condominium unit and had access to the weekly earnings from their F&B stall in Serangoon.
The couple would keep their income in plastic bags, including a sales report, in a staircase area at home or outside in a safe in their home office, reported Channel News Asia.
In July 2021, the stall owners noticed that four bags of cash were missing.
They did not confront Aryani at first, thinking they simply misplaced the cash.
When they couldn’t track the bags, they confronted Aryani.
Aryani denied the allegations, and the couple filed a police report in Aug 2021.
Police investigations revealed that Aryani took the four missing bags containing S$11,635.50 in total between April 2021 to July 2021.
The domestic helper also took S$200 from her employer’s wallet in March 2021.
It was reported that Aryani spent the stolen money on shoes, bags, clothes, an iPhone 12 Pro worth S$1,290 and remitted S$3,000 to her bank account in Indonesia.
On Aug 2, 2021, a woman swimming in their condominium pool noticed a bundle of cash on the floor.
She discovered S$50 notes tied together along with a Western Union remittance note.
The woman handed over the cash worth S$2,650 to the condominium management before it was passed over to the police.
The courts heard that Aryani threw the cash out the window after finding out her employers had filed a police report.
To date, Aryani has not made any restitution but agreed to let the couple keep the phone and her salary of S$2,272.
On Tuesday (Oct 5), Aryani, who was in a place of remand, pleaded guilty to one count of theft by servant.
She was sentenced to eight months’ jail, following the prosecution’s request for 10 to 12 months’ jail for grossly abusing her employers’ trust.
Meanwhile, Aryani requested a lighter sentence, noting she was the sole breadwinner of her family. She had three siblings in school and a mother needing monthly blood transfusions.
For the offence, Aryani could have been sentenced to up to seven years’ imprisonment and fined. /TISG
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