Nanny, 62, stole over $18,000 in cash and jewellery from employer over 8 years
SINGAPORE — A nanny with a gambling addiction was employed to look after a six-month-old boy in November 2010, a court heard.
Over the next eight-and-a-half years, Ho Siew Phin filched cash and jewellery from the child’s father who employed her, making off with loot worth a total of $18,794.
At the State Courts last Thursday (26 December), Ho, now 62, was jailed for nine months.
The Singaporean pleaded guilty to three amalgamated charges of theft as a servant or employee involving $9,416 in cash and 21 pieces of gold jewellery worth $6,950 in all.
Three other counts of theft as a servant or employee involving $2,428 in cash were considered in sentencing.
Used cash to gamble
According to court documents made available on Tuesday (31 December), Ho was employed in November 2010, when she was 53.
Over four separate occasions between 2011 and 2012, the nanny stole four to five red packets kept in her 51-year-old employer’s master bedroom wardrobe. The total sum of cash in the red packets was $4,752.
The culprit also stole gold jewellery kept in a locked drawer in her employer’s master bedroom over four different occasions in 2016. She would take the drawer keys from the handbag of her employer’s wife to commit the thefts, making off with a total of 21 jewellery pieces worth $6,950 in all.
Between 2017 and 2018, the perpetrator also stole cash amounting to $2,428 over three separate occasions.
And over four different occasions between January and May this year, the errant nanny stole $4,664 in cash from her employer’s master bedroom.
Nanny turned herself in
“Some time in May 2019, the victim realised that money and valuable items in his house were missing,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Deborah Lee.
The employer confronted the nanny, who initially denied the thefts. But when he said that he would report the matter to the police, Ho confessed to her crimes.
“The accused admitted that she took the items to fund her gambling addiction. She would either use the cash directly, or pawn away the jewellery in exchange for money to gamble,” said the prosecutor.
On 18 May, Ho surrendered herself at Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre.
She has made partial restitution by buying back the 21 pieces of gold jewellery and returning them to her former employer.
The maximum punishment for a clerk, servant or employee who steals property from his or her master or employer is a jail term of up to seven years along with a fine.
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