6 weeks' jail for maid who repeatedly stole and pawned employer's jewellery

SINGAPORE — Starting in early 2016, Indonesian domestic worker Suprapti stole cash and pieces of jewellery from her employer undetected.

Her actions were discovered by chance earlier this when her employer saw a letter from a pawnshop addressed to the worker. The employer then confronted Suprapti, who confessed to her crimes.

On Tuesday (Dec 20), the 49-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, was sentenced to six weeks’ jail after admitting to three charges of theft from her employer. Two other similar charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The court heard on Tuesday that sometime in March 2021, Ms Nuraisha Ibrahim who was Suprapti's employer noticed that one of her gold necklaces that was usually kept in a drawer in her room had gone missing.

She brushed it off because she thought that she had misplaced the item, which she bought for about S$300.

However, in March this year, she received a letter in her letterbox addressed to Suprapti. The letter was a reminder from a pawnshop to redeem the item she had pawned.

Ms Nuraisha then confronted the worker, who admitted stealing the necklace.

A police screening of the pawnshop uncovered that Suprapti had pawned many items there, some of which she admitted were stolen from her employer.

Investigations revealed that Suprapti had stolen and pawned jewellery pieces on two occasions in March 2017 totalling S$650, and another five occasions in 2016 with a total value of S$1,190.

On a separate occasion in February 2021, she stole a S$900 gold bracelet, which she had pawned. She claimed that she remitted the money to her family back in Indonesia.

All the items were not recovered and no restitution was made to Ms Nuraisha, the prosecution said.

Court documents showed that the employer called the police close to 1am on Nov 29 this year, saying that “I caught my helper stealing my jewelleries and other items”. 

The documents did not specify what prompted Ms Nuraisha to make the call at that particular time.

Suprapti, who appeared via video link on Tuesday, said through an interpreter that she was “terribly sorry” for her actions and pleaded for leniency.

For each conviction of theft in her capacity as a servant, Suprapti could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.