Maid who stole from CAG chairman’s home gets over 2 years’ jail
She is sentenced to 26 months' jail for stealing over $34k worth of items
A maid who stole more than $34,000 worth of items while working for Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong and his family was yesterday sentenced to two years and two months' jail.
Indonesian Parti Liyani, 45, who committed the offences while she was working for the household from 2007 to 2016, was found guilty on four counts of theft by District Judge Olivia Low on March 20.
Judge Low said Parti had stolen from Mr Liew, his two children Karl Liew and Liew Cheng May, as well as Karl's wife, Madam Heather Lim.
The articles stolen by the maid included a $10,000 Gerald Genta watch, 115 items of clothing worth $150 each, as well as two iPhones with accessories valued at more than $2,000 in total.
The judge said: "The quantity and variety of stolen items showed that the accused took these items out of greed...
"In particular, the accused took things which she may have thought were old, spoilt or forgotten, but which she had no immediate need for."
Parti has one more charge pending - possessing items, including wallets and ez-link cards, which are suspected to have been fraudulently obtained.
She did not consent for it to be taken into consideration during sentencing for her theft offences. A pre-trial conference for this charge will be held next month.
Parti began working at the Liews' Chancery Lane house off Dunearn Road in March 2007.
Mr Liew Mun Leong later discovered items had gone missing from the household and suspected Parti had stolen them. He finally decided to terminate her employment in October 2016.
As he was overseas, he asked his son Karl to oversee the maid's termination and her repatriation to Indonesia.
On Oct 28 that year, Karl told Parti she would no longer be working for the family and gave her about three hours to pack her belongings. She was also given two to three months' salary as compensation.
Parti later demanded that he pay for three jumbo boxes of items to be shipped to her home and he agreed.
The maid then left the house without taking the boxes and returned to Indonesia.
Madam Lim later voiced her concerns to her husband that it would not be prudent to ship the boxes back to Parti without knowing their contents.
The boxes were opened and the family discovered many of their belongings inside.
A police report was later made after Mr Liew returned to Singapore.
Parti came back to the Republic on Dec 2, 2016, as she wanted to continue working here but was arrested on arrival.
Defence lawyer Anil Balchandani, who had been approached by migrant workers group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics to represent Parti pro bono, said she intends to appeal against her conviction and sentence.
She was offered bail of $15,000.
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