Filipino domestic helper in HK jailed for 1 week for stealing $12.75

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A Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong was sentenced to a week in jail after she was caught stealing HK$100 (around US$12.75 or P672) from her employer in Braemar Hill.

Thirty-six-year-old Melody C.F. pleaded guilty to theft before Eastern Magistrates’ Courts Principal Magistrate Peter Law on Jan. 21, who gave her the week-long sentence. As per Hong Kong News on Jan. 22, Melody’s lawyer asked for leniency since she confessed to the crime upon being caught.

“She took the Hong Kong dollar and tried to get money for her daughter’s educational needs,” Melody’s lawyer was quoted as saying.

Melody only started working for her employer in September 2018, but has been a domestic helper in Hong Kong since 2008. She was caught when her employer noticed she kept losing money around the house.

Her employer had kept note of her bills’ serial numbers and placed them inside a bag on top of a shoe cabinet on Sept. 19.

Upon returning home that night, she saw that HK$100 was missing and immediately called the police. The money was found inside Melody’s wallet.

“She has an 18-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son,” her lawyer was quoted as saying. “Her daughter is in university. [Melody] took the [money] because she was in financial difficulties. Her daughter had university fees to pay.”  Cody Cepeda /ra

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