Dubai: A babysitter, who stole her sponsor’s Dh200,000 painting, valuables, clothes and games that she claimed to have donated to the poor, was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail.
A Filipina housemaid discovered that her 33-year-old countrywoman co-worker, G.R., had been stealing children’s clothes and games and other valuables from their American sponsor’s residence in September.
When the American sponsor confronted the babysitter, G.R. said she took the children’s clothes and games and other goods and offered them to needy and poor children in her country.
The American woman cancelled her babysitter’s visa, according to records, and sent her back to the recruitment agency from where she had been hired. Afterwards, the sponsor discovered that G.R. had stolen valuables worth more than Dh300,000 during the four years she had worked for her [between 2010 and 2014].
On Tuesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced G.R. in absentia after she was convicted of stealing.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the accused will be deported following the completion of her imprisonment.
The American housewife said her other Filipina maid sent her photos on WhatsApp of the items that G.R. had hidden in her cupboard.
“My other maid discovered children’s games and clothes and other items hidden in G.R.’s bedroom. Accompanied by my lawyer and another witness, I entered G.R.’s bedroom and discovered all the stolen items hidden in the cupboard. When I confronted her, she denied… but later she admitted that she had sent clothes and games to impoverished children in her homeland. Later I called my family in the US to ask them if they had received the children’s clothes that I had sent them… I was told that they had not arrived. I discovered that G.R. stole other belongings. She stole a valuable painting, blankets, rugs, bedcovers, gold, jewellery, clothes, accessories, and other items,” claimed the American.
The CCTV cameras installed at the American’s house revealed that G.R., her sister, and the latter’s boyfriend, had all been involved in the theft, according to records. The sister and her boyfriend stood trial before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court for aiding and abetting G.R.
