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A crime that began when a domestic helper found her employer’s
credit card in the laundry bin and then used it on her day off the next day to buy lunch
and two gold rings that she later pawned, has resulted in a combined 16-month
jail sentence at the District Court today.
Maria Fe Narciso, 32 years old and working as a domestic
helper since 2019, barely reacted when the sentence was read to her by Judge J.
Lam after she pleaded guilty.
After all, Narciso had been in jail since her arrest 14 months
ago after police found in her wallet the $3,000 that she got from pawning the
two rings and a pawnshop receipt. With discounts for good behavior and holidays
during the period, she could be released sooner than the remaining two months.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
In his decision, Judge Lam noted that Narciso should have returned the credit card when she found it. “But she used it. The cards were still with her when she was arrested and she could have used the card again,” he added.
He said that while the theft of the card may be
opportunistic, and therefore given a lighter penalty, dishonest use of the card
was not.
Narciso's sentence started with six months in prison for stealing
the Bank of China Mastercard credit card of her employer Au Shuk-chi on May 18,
2024 at the latter’s flat in Sunway Gardens on King’s Road, North Point.
Under the principle of totality in sentencing, Judge Lam added
half of a four-month sentence he meted on her for using the card on May 19 to pay
for food at the KFC restaurant downstairs.
For using the card again later that day, this time to buy
one gold ring for $2,995 at Luvenus Jewellery at Worldwide Plaza in Central, he
gave her an eight-month sentence, four of which were added to the first
sentence.
He finally added another four of the eight-month sentence for
using the card to buy another gold ring worth $2,020 at Friendly Jewelry Ltd., also
at Worldwide Plaza.
