The SUN HK : Filipina caught on CCTV taking employer’s $20k jailed 6 months

28 December 2020

By Vir B. Lumicao

The theft was caught on a CCTV installed by employer's daughter

A Filipina helper who had pleaded guilty to stealing $20,000 from her employer in Kowloon City in October was sentenced to six months in jail today.

Derlene Alejandro, 43, was given by Kowloon City Court Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi just a one-third discount for her guilty plea after she failed to submit a medical certificate that her husband had brain cancer, as she had claimed.

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The defendant admitted the theft before Magistrate Ada Yim on Nov 16 but sentencing was set for today pending the medical certificate and a background report.

Her lawyer said in mitigation that Alejandro came to Hong Kong in 2011 as a domestic helper. She is married to a farmer and they have a son who is going to university.

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After the defendant was caught on CCTV taking Wong Siu-ping’s money in the employer’s bedroom, she claimed she intended to use it to pay for her husband’s cancer treatment.

The defense lawyer said Alejandro’s husband was now recovering. He begged for leniency, saying his client was remorseful and had pleaded guilty at the first instance, and that her employer suffered no financial loss as the money was recovered.

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Magistrate Cheng said he considered the mitigation, but the case involved a breach of trust, which is a serious offense.

Alejandro was arrested on Oct 25 after a CCTV that Wong’s daughter had installed in her parents’ bedroom showed the helper taking the money from the employer’s denim pants.

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The helper was hired by Wong in May 2019 to serve her and her husband, as well as their two grown-up daughters, in a flat at Lee’s Mansion on Boundary St., Kowloon City.

Alejandro had instructions not to enter the master’s bedroom without permission, the prosecution said.

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The family had earlier noticed cash had been disappearing in the flat since September, so, Wong’s daughter installed the CCTV on Oct 11. The family also took photos of money they brought home for record.

When the helper entered Wong’s room at 1:45pm on Oct 25 and took 40 $500 bills she kept in her denim trousers’ pockets, the daughter checked the CCTV by chance via her phone and saw Alejandro taking the money.