Jail for 2 maids who stole from their employers in separate cases

SINGAPORE – Facing financial difficulties, a domestic worker stole $2,000 from a clinic where her employer was a director while she was cleaning it.

Myanmar national Ei Shwe Sin, 31, was one of two maids who were given jail sentences on July 24 for stealing from their employers.

She was sentenced to six weeks’ jail after she pleaded guilty to a charge of theft by a servant for stealing $1,100 across 11 occasions, with a similar charge taken into consideration during her sentencing.

Meanwhile, Indonesian national Roiyal Asriani, 25, was given 10 months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to two theft by a servant charges after she stole more than $30,000 in cash and jewellery.

State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Ng Chee Wee said that Ei Shwe Sin’s then employer, a 79-year-old woman, is the director of MCR Clinic in Veerasamy Road.

The domestic worker, who was paid $550 a month, occasionally went to the clinic to clean after its operating hours, on top of doing household chores at her employer’s house.

Ei Shwe Sin knew that after her employer and the clinic manager had tallied the daily earnings, they would leave the cash unattended on the clinic registration counter while they handled other matters.

At about 4.50pm on June 21, Ei Shwe Sin was cleaning the clinic premises after it had closed when she observed that there were stacks of cash left unattended on the counter.

She took one stack that had bills amounting to $900 and hid it in her waist pouch before leaving the clinic.

At about 9am the next day, the employer discovered that the cash was missing and, suspecting that Ei Shwe Sin had stolen the money, she discussed the matter with her clinic manager and reviewed footage from the clinic’s CCTV cameras, which had captured the theft.

The employer then lodged a police report.

Following her arrest, Ei Shwe Sin was also found to have stolen at least $1,100 on at least 11 occasions between March 1 and June 20.

She had taken the cash from her employer’s bag behind the counter or from the counter’s drawer where her employer and the clinic manager had kept some of the clinic’s daily cash earnings.

Said SPO Ng: “The accused’s offence went undetected for the entire period as she would steal $30 to $100 in cash on each occasion.”

However, her acts of theft on the 11 occasions were captured by the clinic’s CCTV cameras.

SPO Ng said Ei Shwe Sin was facing financial difficulties, with her family facing a debt in Myanmar, and also having bought a gold chain for $1,900 which she had to pay off in three monthly instalments.

She remitted all the stolen cash to help her family repay the debt, and has not made restitution.

Meanwhile, SPO Mohd Nasri Haron said Roiyal had entered the master bedroom of the residence where she was employed in December 2023 when her employer’s family was away on holiday.

There, she used keys that she had found while cleaning the house to open the safe located in the wardrobe.

She stole $20,000 in jewellery including necklaces, pendants, earrings and items from a wedding dowry.

Roiyal sold some of the larger pieces of jewellery to Indonesian travellers at Changi Airport and took the smaller pieces back to Indonesia, where she sold them to various people.

She spent the proceeds on her family, and none of the jewellery has been recovered.

Between January and March 2024, Roiyal had also stolen $17,500 over four or more occasions from another safe located in the wardrobe in the master bedroom.

She admitted to the police that she stole the cash and spent it on food and other personal expenses.

The cash has not been recovered and Roiyal has also not made restitution to her employer.

Those found guilty of theft as a servant can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.

As Ei Shwe Sin’s charge and one of Roiyal’s charges involved two or more incidents of the commission of the same offence, they could have received twice the penalty for that charge.