Maid cleans employer out

Maid cleans employer out

Her list of ill-gotten gains read like a luxury catalogue, including branded bags like Hermes, Chanel, Prada and Gucci.

And the maid did not just take them from her employer. She shipped them back to her Indonesian home in the same piece of luggage where she found the items.

Around $60,000 worth of valuables and more than $2,000 cash in various currencies were stolen from her employer and her family members over three months.

What made her case worse was that she started stealing about a month after she started work, continuing until she was caught, said the judge presiding over her case.

Mellysa, 30, the Indonesian maid, was jailed yesterday for 14 months for five counts of theft.

Her loot also included clothing, branded accessories, jewellery and a Samsung smartphone.

Another five charges of theft of around $7,000 of cash in various currencies were also taken into consideration.

Mellysa was employed by Madam Karen Yip Ka Ling, 47, and her family sometime in February in their condominium unit at Draycott Drive in Newton.

She was frequently left alone in their home.

In March, around a month after she started work, Mellysa stole a Samsung smartphone from the drawer of Madam Yip.

On April 29, she was cleaning Madam Yip's bedroom when she came across a piece of luggage containing around $58,000 in cash and items.

Among the items were a Hermes bag worth $18,000, a Chanel bag worth $15,000, a gold necklace worth $1,800, five leather jackets worth $12,000 and two sets of bedsheets worth $1,200.

The maid kept all the items in the bag and then engaged a delivery company to send it back to her Indonesian home.

She also stole cash from the wallets of Madam Yip's husband, son and his girlfriend between March and May.

Madam Yip initially discovered that money and other items had gone missing from her house in March, but did not suspect anything. It was only on May 29, when more things went missing, that she began to suspect that her maid had stolen them.

Two days later, she confronted Mellysa and found her smartphone in Mellysa's bedroom.

A delivery receipt for the luggage was also found in her possession.

When confronted by Madam Yip, Mellysa admitted to shipping her employer's things home. Madam Yip then called the police and Mellysa was arrested.

ngjunsen@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on July 22, 2014.
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