By Vir B. Lumicao
A Filipina domestic helper who stole the
newly approved credit card of her employer last year and used it to withdraw
cash and buy a drink, was sentenced on Feb. 22 to 14 months in jail. Jae Marie Barrion, 40,
cried as police escorts led her away after her sentencing.
Earlier in the day,
District Court Judge C.P. Pang convicted Barrion of theft after she pleaded guilty
to six charges, including stealing the credit card and using it to withdraw
cash.
In handing down the
sentence, Pang rejected the defense’s claim in mitigation that Barrion was
driven to theft by the acute financial need of her family back home. The court
was told the accused has a three-year-old son, her husband has been jobless for
15 years; and she had a sick grandmother who needed medication but had now
passed away.
“I do not accept the
defense’s submission that she stole the credit card because her family in the
Philippines needed money badly,” Pang said.
“She breached the trust
of her employer by committing the offense. The theft was not just one incident
but done over two months,” the judge said, adding that when Barrio could no
longer withdraw cash because she had exceeded the credit limit, she used the
stolen card to buy herself a drink at 7-Eleven.
The court heard that in
August last year, Barrion’s employer applied for a Visa credit card with HSBC,
which the bank approved. The bank mailed the credit card to the employer’s
address and when it arrived on Aug 11, Barrion stole the card and waited for
the password. When the password was finally delivered by mail, the helper took
it and used it to activate the card on Sept 13.
Barrion first withdrew
$10,000 from an ATM at the MTR Tai Po Market station using the stolen card on
Sept 18, and used it again at the same ATM on Sept 20 to withdraw another
$10,000.
The defendant tried to
make further cash withdrawals of $10,000 each on Sept 27 and Oct 7 from the
same ATM in Tai Po Market, but was unsuccessful as she had already exceeded the
card’s withdrawal limit.
Hoping the card would
be reactivated, Barrion went to a 7-Eleven on Oct 9 and used the card to buy a
drink for $15.
On Oct 15 the employer
followed up her credit card application with HSBC but was told that her card
had already been activated. She informed
the police and dismissed Barrion on the same day.
The court was told that
on Oct 16 the Filipina went to the Immigration Department to try to apply for a
visa extension but she was arrested.
