SINGAPORE: Over about six months, a maid withdrew a total of S$88,600 from her employer’s 95-year-old father’s bank account, taking care not to trigger the bank’s automatic alert for large transactions.
The crime was discovered only after the wheelchair-bound man died and his son received the bank statement.
Indonesian national Eka Yuniarsih, 32, was sentenced to 15 months’ jail on Tuesday (Nov 14) for one count of criminal breach of trust by dishonest misappropriation.
She was also ordered to pay compensation of S$5,442, which was the amount in Singapore dollars seized from her after her arrest.
The court heard that Eka was hired to care for her employer’s father. She worked for the household for two to three years until the elderly man died at the age of 95 in July.
In August last year, the elderly man asked Eka to help him withdraw money from his DBS bank account, as he was wheelchair-bound.
He entrusted the maid with his ATM card and PIN, so it would be more convenient for her to withdraw money on his behalf.
Eka had incurred hefty debts in Indonesia and she decided to withdraw money from the elderly man’s bank account to pay off her debts.
Between Jan 30 and Jul 7, she made 89 withdrawals from the bank account, making sure not to withdraw more than S$1,000 at a time. This would trigger DBS’ automatic alert, the court heard.
Eka remitted the sums to her creditors in Indonesia and took S$8,000 in withdrawn cash with her to Indonesia on a trip in April.
The elderly man died on Jul 10. Six days later, his son received the bank statement for June and discovered that various cash withdrawals had been made.
He confronted Eka, who initially claimed that it was her employer’s father who made the withdrawals.
The victim’s son filed a police report. Eka initially admitted to withdrawing only S$50,000, before finally confessing to withdrawing the full sum of S$88,600.
She was arrested, and the victim’s ATM card was seized from her, along with cash of S$5,442 and about 7.5 million rupiah (S$644). She did not make any restitution.
The prosecutor sought 16 to 20 months’ jail for Eka, pointing to the large sum misappropriated, long period of offending and premeditation in ensuring she withdrew no more than S$1,000 at a time.
The victim was an immobile, elderly man, and Eka took advantage of his inability to visit the ATM independently or monitor his finances closely and pulled the wool over his eyes, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Etsuko Lim.
She sought compensation of at least S$6,000 from the seized cash.
In mitigation, Eka said through an interpreter that she was a divorcee and the sole breadwinner of her family.
“I did this because I have to help my family who are in debt,” she said, asking for a lighter sentence as she had to continue working.
She asked the court to convey a message to her employer: “I am sorry … I cannot repay their goodwill to me. I … apologise to them.”