SINGAPORE - A maid who had been treated well by her employer abused the latter's trust and stole more than $8,000 in cash and valuables from her.

Vina Qurotunaini, 27, then pawned most of her loot before using her ill-gotten gains to repay debts, treat her friends to meals and buy new jewellery.

She also remitted some of the cash back home to Indonesia.

Vina was on Monday (March 14) sentenced to six months' jail after she pleaded guilty to a theft charge.

A 40-year-old Singaporean woman had employed Vina, and the Indonesian maid started working at her boss' Clementi flat in July 2018.

Her duties included performing household chores and taking care of her employer's children.

Vina was cleaning her employer's bedroom in October last year when she saw that a key had been left in the keyhole of a drawer.

She opened the drawer and saw that it contained $2,000 in cash as well as multiple pieces of gold jewellery. Vina then decided to steal them.

State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Wilfred Dennis Philomin said: "After taking the stolen items, the accused locked the drawer with the key and concealed the stolen items in a pile of her clothes stored in the service yard of the residence. The accused subsequently pawned most of the stolen jewellery."

On Jan 22 this year, the employer contacted the police after noticing that her valuables were missing.

She also suspected that Vina could be responsible for the losses, the court heard.

Court documents did not state how the maid was arrested but she was charged in court later that month.

The SPO said: "(A) gold pendant valued at $180 was recovered from the accused. All of the other stolen jewellery was pawned by the accused, and subsequently recovered from the respective pawnshops.

"No cash was recovered and no restitution has been made by the accused to date."

For theft, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.