SINGAPORE: When no one else was at home, a maid helped herself to more than S$26,000 worth of her employer’s jewellery and cash, and then tried to cover up her crime by staging a housebreaking scene.
On Thursday (April 10), Doniego Fleiry Ann Ramos, 31, was sentenced to nine months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to one count each of theft as a servant and obstructing the course of justice.
The court heard that on March 28, 2024, Ramos had been tasked to help clean up her employer’s brother’s home.
After she had completed the task, she headed back to her employer’s house some time after 5pm.
When she reached there, she found the door unlocked and nobody home. She then decided to steal more than $1,400 in cash and diamond rings, bracelets and necklaces.
To make it look like the place had been broken into and her belongings also stolen, Ramos laid out some of the jewellery boxes on the floor and hid $700 of her own money.
Ramos then called her employer to tell her that she had reached home but she did not have the key to unlock the door.
Her employer told Ramos to return to her brother’s place to meet her, and they would return home together.
When the pair reached home at about 9pm, they found the scene that Ramos had staged.
The employer told the police that her home had been broken into.
When the officers arrived, Ramos told them that her items were also missing.
Around two weeks later, on April 12, 2024, Ramos repeated the lie in a statement taken by investigating officers.
But when pressed again in a second statement, she admitted to her actions.
Those who steal from an employer in the capacity of a clerk or servant can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
Offenders who intentionally obstruct the course of justice can be jailed for up to seven years and fined. - The Straits Times/ANN
