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| The theft took place in one of the flats in Laguna Verde (Google Maps photo) |
A domestic helper who mistakenly sent a text message to her employer confessing that she stole $110,500 worth of the latter’s jewelry and cash, was jailed for 10 months on Thursday after she pleaded guilty to theft at Kowloon City Court.
According to the case brief read out in court, 37-year-old Ciavy Jean Daniega had meant to send the text message to a friend, but instead passed it on her employer, who called the police.
In sentencing, Acting Principal Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi told Deniega that what she had done was serious as it involved a breach of trust, and the amount involved was substantial. He set a starting point of one year and three months' jail in sentencing, but reduced it by one third because of the guilty plea.
Deniega was charged with violating section 9 of the Theft
Ordinance by stealing five gold pellets, two gold bracelets, four necklaces,
one gold necklace, one gold ring, and cash of $10,200, with a total value of
$110,500, from her employer, Shelby Lily Yu.
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The theft took place between April 4 and June 3, 2026, in the employer’s flat at Tower 11, Laguna Verde, 8 Laguna Verde Avenue, Hung Hom, Kowloon. Deniega had been working for the employer for just over a year at the time.
According to the case brief, the jewels were kept inside a drawer and a bookshelf which were both unlocked, inside the flat's master bedroom.
After her employer called the police, four pawnshop receipts and the boxes that held the jewelry were found inside the helper's room.
The employer, through her lawyer, asked the court for a return of the HK$10,200 cash that was stolen along with the jewelry, but the defense lawyer said Deniega did not have the money to pay.
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In mitigation, her lawyer said financial pressures, such as finding money for medical expenses for her sick elderly mother and a son who has urinary tract infection, forced her to steal. Paying off loans meant she could send only half her salary each month to her family.
The lawyer asked for a lenient sentence, saying Deniega wants to go back home as soon as possible to reunite with her ailing mother and son.
Deniega arrived in Hong Kong in 2015.
