Maid stole 59 pieces of jewellery from employer's home and pawned them for over $23,000

Nadine Chua
The Straits Times
March 21, 2024

A maid who stole 59 pieces of jewellery from her employer’s home over nine months and pawned them for more than $23,000 has been sentenced to 14 months’ jail.

On March 21, 50-year-old Sumarmi, who goes by only one name, pleaded guilty to two theft in dwelling charges and one charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.

The Indonesian woman, who had worked for her employer for more than 10 years, also stole over $10,000 in cash from the home.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Chu said Sumarmi was employed as a foreign domestic helper in 2009 or 2010 and lived with her employer and his family.

Sumarmi knew that her employer and his wife kept their valuables in locked cabinets. In 2020, she found the keys to her employer’s cabinet and kept the spare copy.

She then bought a generic key for $5.90 from a hardware store and realised it could open one of the four locks on the cabinet of her employer’s wife. Subsequently, she found and kept the keys that could be used to open the remaining three locks on the cabinet.

Thereafter, on multiple occasions between March and December 2023, Sumarmi stole a total of 59 pieces of jewellery from the cabinet and pawned them for $23,380.

Several of the pieces that were pawned were recovered, but Sumarmi did not make restitution for the loss caused by her actions.

In 2023, Sumarmi also stole from the home two stacks of $2 notes worth $4,000, multiple $50 notes worth $600 and cash in various foreign currencies worth more than $5,900.

Her crimes came to light in December 2023 when her employer noticed that several stacks of his cash were missing.

The employer and his wife then found a pouch on Sumarmi containing a stack of pawn tickets and keys that could open their locked cabinets.

Sumarmi denied stealing any items, but the police were called and she was arrested.

Investigations later revealed Sumarmi spent the stolen cash and the money she received from pawning the jewellery to pay off debts to her friends and buy clothes for herself.

She also sent some money to her family in Indonesia.

In mitigation, Sumarmi pleaded for leniency, saying: “I have lots of responsibilities in Indonesia. My mother is sick and needs medical attention and my children are still schooling.”

But District Judge Wong Peck said Sumarmi abused the trust her employer and his family placed in her, and that her thefts entailed a high degree of premeditation.

In 2023, there were several cases of domestic helpers being taken to task for stealing from their employers.

In November 2023, a maid who stole more than $57,000 of gold bars and jewellery from her employer was sentenced to 15 months’ jail.

In August 2023, a maid was sentenced to two years and four months’ jail for stealing more than $160,000 from a 94-year-old man under her care.

That same month, another maid was jailed for 20 months after she admitted to stealing more than $42,000 in cash and valuables from her employer.