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| The Tuen Mun court heard the maid hid $2k of the stolen money inside her bra |
A Filipina helper who admitted stealing $8,500 from her male
employer this month was sentenced to three weeks in jail today, Jul 27, by a Tuen Mun
A. J. Madamba, 27, bawled out after her sentencing by Magistrate
Cheung Kit-yee.
Madamba had admitted stealing $7,500 and $1,000 on two
separate occasions from Lee Joy-tak, her employer at the Aegean Coast Castle Peak
Road
The maid had been in Lee’s employ since August last year.
Lee told police he used to put cash in an unlocked drawer in
his room for daily expenses.
On Jul 13, he put $15,500 in the drawer, but when he checked
the money four days later, he found out $7,500 was gone. He said he did not ask
the maid about the missing money because he trusted her, but he had doubts.
In the morning of Jul 20, he placed $12,500 in the drawer, and
took photos of all the bills. When he got home at night, he checked the drawer
and noticed $1,000 was gone.
This time the employer asked Madamba about the missing cash
and she readily admitted stealing it for her own needs. She then took out the
money from the left pocket of her sweat pants. The employer called the police
and the maid was arrested.
During an investigation at the Tuen Mun Police Station, in
the presence of two interpreters, one for Tagalog and another for Chinese, Madamba
suddenly pulled out $2,000 from her bra.
The police said she admitted taking all of the missing money
but only kept $2,000 and spent the rest.
In mitigation, Madamba’s lawyer said the defendant was
married but separated from her husband. She has a son aged 9 who lives with her
mother. She arrived in Hong Kong last year.
Previously, she worked as a domestic helper in the Middle
East .
The magistrate sentenced the maid to three weeks in jail for
both offences, with the sentences to run concurrently, and said stealing from
an employer was a serious breach of trust.
