Helper steals S$677 from S'pore employer, transfers it to boyfriend, he stands her up at airport for days

After stealing S$677 cash from her elderly employers, a foreign domestic worker in Singapore transferred most of it to her boyfriend in Indonesia.

She then waited for him at Changi Airport as he had promised to meet and return her the money there, Shin Min Daily News reported.

But he did not show up for a few days.

The helper was eventually arrested at HarbourFront Centre where she tried to take a ferry to Batam.

Depi Lestari, 41, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft on Aug. 25, and was sentenced to four weeks in jail, backdated to the date of her arrest.

The theft

Lestari stole the cash around 7am on Jul. 8 when her employers, a couple in their 70s, were still asleep, according to Shin Min.

Investigations revealed that she decided to steal because she was struggling financially.

She unlocked the male employer's briefcase, got his wallet out, and took S$677 cash from it.

After packing her things, she also grabbed the couple's identity documents from the house before she left.

The female employer realised the cash and the helper were both missing when she woke up at 8:30am. She called the police to report the theft immediately.

Meeting the boyfriend

Around 9:35am that morning, Lestari changed S$654 of the stolen cash to Indonesian rupiah at City Plaza, then transferred this sum to her boyfriend's bank account in Indonesia.

She spent the remaining cash on her own.

Later in court, Lestari explained that she went to Changi Airport to wait for her boyfriend as he had instructed.

After he failed to show up, he apparently told her to take a ferry to Batam first and meet him in Jakarta.

When she went to take a ferry on Jul. 12, she was arrested by the police.

In court, Lestari claimed that she stole from her employers due to severe pressure from her boyfriend.

She expressed remorse for her actions and pleaded for leniency from the judge.

In the sentencing, the judge said that she had betrayed the trust of her employers and had not made any restitution to date.