SINGAPORE - After taking a few $1,000 notes from her employer's trouser pocket, an Indonesian domestic worker sent some money to her family and bought jewellery, a court heard on Friday (July 28).

Puji Winarsih, 31, was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail for stealing $5,000 from her employer, Mr Goh Teck Ann, 51, at his home in Changi on July 12 this year.

A second charge of stealing $2,000 from Mr Goh sometime last month (June) was taken into consideration in sentencing.

The court heard that Puji, who had been working for Mr Goh since March 20, was collecting dirty laundry at Mr Goh's room for washing when she found a stack of $1,000 notes in his pants pocket at about 8.30pm on July 12.

She took a few pieces of $1,000 and returned to her room. She counted them and found that she had taken $5,000.

The next day, she went out and bought some jewellery.

When she returned to the house at about 7.30pm, Mr Goh confronted her about the missing money. She admitted to the theft and Mr Goh then called the police.

Cash amounting to $2,479 and jewellery worth $1,924 were recovered from Puji. The rest of the money had been remitted to her family in Indonesia.

She could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for theft as a servant.