Maid hired to care for 88-year-old woman steals more than S$28,000 from her using ATM card, gets 6 months' jail
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- Using a bank card stolen from an 88-year-old woman under her care, Thae Thae Mar withdrew more than S$28,000 in cash
- The domestic worker then remitted all the stolen money to her family members in Myanmar
- This was done on 36 separate occasions in about a month at various bank teller machines around Singapore
- She was sentenced to six months’ jail for theft
BY
SUFIYAN SAMSURI
Published May 23, 2024Updated May 23, 2024
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SINGAPORE — A domestic worker who was employed to take care of an 88-year-old woman stole the elder's ATM card to withdraw more than S$28,000 in cash.
On Thursday (May 23), Thae Thae Mar, a 34-year-old worker from Myanmar, was sentenced to six months' jail for her offences, which took place in February this year.
She pleaded guilty to a charge of theft, with another similar charge being taken into consideration during the sentencing.
Her sentence was backdated to May 2 when she was first arrested and remanded.
At the time of the offence, Mar was employed as a domestic worker for Madam Hoo Siew Keng, who was living with her son and a tenant.
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She was hired in early 2022 and her main duties were to take care of Mdm Hoo and the household chores.
Court documents showed that sometime in end January this year, Mar accompanied the victim to the market and, on several occasions, saw her keying in her personal identification number (PIN) at the automated teller machine (ATM) to withdraw money.
Mar, who was in need of money due to financial difficulties, remembered the PIN and decided she would steal Mdm Hoo's ATM card to get some money.
On Feb 3, while the older woman was washing her face at home, Mar took the ATM card from Mdm Hoo's wallet and went to an ATM located at Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre.
She withdrew cash totalling S$1,500 and remitted the money to her family members in Myanmar.
She then put back the stolen card in the wallet when she returned home.
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On Feb 25, Mar told the victim’s daughter, Ms Lam Kwai Fern, that she had to return to Myanmar urgently, saying that her mother was shot by police officers there, and that she would not be returning to Singapore.
Ms Lam’s brother then booked a flight ticket and Mar left on Feb 26. At this point, the theft had not been discovered.
Five days later, Ms Lam discovered that between Feb 3 and Feb 26, there were 36 unauthorised cash withdrawals amounting to S$28,760 from the joint bank account she held with her mother.
She then made an online police report against Mar.
The court heard that Mar had made the cash withdrawals at various ATMs in Singapore and remitted all the stolen money to her family members back home.
Following investigations, Mar was arrested on May 2 when she arrived at Changi Airport and was charged the next day. It is not known why she returned to Singapore.
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On Thursday, State Prosecuting Officer Lam Peng Choy sought a custodial sentence for Mar, but left the duration to the court’s discretion.
Mr Lam added: “The accused had stolen a large amount of money from a vulnerable and elderly victim, whom she has been employed to take care of.
“No restitution has been made.”
In mitigation, Mar pleaded for the court’s leniency, adding that she had to support her sick parents in Myanmar who are also facing financial difficulties due to the political situation.
District Judge Ong Chin Rhu said that she had considered the “full circumstances” when meting out the sentence, including the stolen amount and the age of the victim, as well as Mar’s intention to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.
For committing theft, Mar could have been jailed for up to three years or fined, or both.
