Maid who stole, cut herself to make it look like a break-in, couldn't fool sniffer dog

A maid who stole from her employer and a fellow maid cut herself on the neck and back with a pair of scissors to make it look like she was attacked in a break-in.

But Gonzales Amor Coy, 45, who is from the Philippines, was caught out after a police K-9 sniffer dog traced the scissors to her fingers.

On Thursday, she was sentenced to 10 months' jail after pleading guilty to one count each of theft in dwelling and giving false information to the police. Another theft charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.

Gonzales was employed in February 2019, and slept in the master bedroom of the three-bedroom unit.

Her elderly female employer slept in one of the other bedrooms, while her fellow maid, who had been employed since 2011, slept in the utility room.

Some time in 2019, Gonzales stole $350 from the other maid, who then handed to their employer her valuables, including three pairs of gold earrings, for safekeeping.

The employer placed them in a locked drawer in the master bedroom that also contained valuables and jewellery belonging to the employer’s mother.

The valuables in the drawer were worth more than $11,000 in all.

Gonzales knew that her employer kept the drawer’s key in a bedside drawer in her own room.

Around September 2022, Gonzales planned to steal the valuables and stage a break-in.

She bought the scissors and a screwdriver on Oct 3.

On Oct 7, at about 8pm, using a handkerchief, she took the key for the locked drawer from her employer’s bedside drawer.

She stole the items from drawer in the master bedroom, wrapped them in the handkerchief and hid the package behind a cabinet.

At about 2am on Oct 10, Gonzales cut herself on the left side of her neck and back with the scissors she had bought.

She then opened the window in her room to make it look like someone had climbed in from the ground floor.

She also pushed a figurine in her room down to the ground floor, where it broke, and placed the scissors and screwdriver on the floor of her room.

Once the stage was set, Gonzales cried out to her fellow maid for help, claiming that a man had attacked her after breaking in.

Their employer heard the commotion and called the police.

Seventeen police officers, including a K-9 team and forensics team, arrived at the house within an hour.

Gonzales told the officers that someone had climbed into her room, injured her and stolen items from the locked drawer, adding that the scissors and screwdriver on the floor did not belong to her.

The police patrolled the area and examined footage from nearby police cameras, attending to the incident till 7am.

During the investigations, they found no signs of tampering at the window, and the K-9 sniffer dog traced the scissors to Gonzales’ fingers.

At 5pm that day, the police took her and her employer back to the location to re-enact the break-in, as well as to search the location again.

When they confronted Gonzales with the evidence, she admitted to lying.

All the valuables were recovered, except for a gold necklace that the maid had pawned. She used the money from pawning the necklace to buy a gold pendant, gold earrings and a gold-plated wristwatch.

These three items were also recovered.

For theft in dwelling, Gonzales could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.

For lying to the police, she could have been jailed for up to two years and fined.