FDH admits to stealing $100 from employer in Braemar Hill

Braemar Hill (Photo: Google Maps)

A 36-year-old foreign domestic worker from the Philippines was sentenced to jail after she admitted to stealing money from her employer in Braemar Hill on Saturday (January 19).

Eastern Magistrates Courts Principal Magistrate Peter Law sentenced Melody C.F., of 17 Braemar Hill Road, North Point, to one week in prison after she pleaded guilty to theft.

“For this case, you stole from your employer. That’s a breach of trust case,” Judge Law told the Filipino woman yesterday (January 21).

Her lawyer had asked for leniency, noting that she had immediately admitted to the crime after she was caught.

“She took the Hong Kong dollar and tried to get money for her daughter’s educational needs,” the lawyer said.

The prosecutor said the incident happened inside the Braemar Hill flat of her employer after the employer noticed that she was losing Hong Kong dollar bills in her home.  Melody had been working for her employer since September last year.

The employer then wrote down the serial numbers of her Hong Kong dollar bills and on September 19 put them inside a bag which she left on top of the shoe cabinet.

When the employer returned home that night, she noticed that a $100 bill was missing and so she called the police.

Investigators later found the missing dollar bill in the domestic worker’s wallet and she admitted to the crime.

Melody’s lawyer said she had been working in Hong Kong since 2008 and had finished four previous contracts.

“She has an 18-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. Her daughter is in university. (Melody) took the (money) because she was in financial difficulties,” the lawyer said.

“Her daughter had university fees to pay,” he added.

The lawyer also noted that Melody would be sent home to the Philippines and “probably not return” to work here since she already has a criminal record.