Dubai: A woman was shocked when she saw the photograph her absconding maid had posted on Facebook — it had her diamond necklace.

The American woman was said to have returned home from work when she realised that her 28-year-old Filipina maid had run away, in March 2016.

The woman was not yet sure that the absconding maid had stolen her missing jewellery and valuables, according to records, until she saw that the maid had posted photo of herself wearing the American’s Dh5,000-worth stolen necklace on Facebook.

Thereafter, the American woman reported the matter to the police, who arrested the maid in July 2017. The maid remained on the run for 16 months.

Prosecutors accused the Filipina suspect of stealing a necklace worth Dh5,000, bracelet worth Dh3,700, Dh600 cash and a fragrance worth Dh600.

When the suspect showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance, she pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusation of having robbed her sponsor.

“I did not steal anything from them,” she told presiding judge Urfan Omar.

“Why did they complain then?” presiding judge Omar asked the suspect.

“They asked me if I wanted to stay working for them, but when I told them no and asked them to fly me back home … they got angry and decided to complain. I didn’t take anything,” she replied.

The American woman testified to prosecutors that she realised that she had been robbed once she saw the suspect’s image of her wearing the stolen necklace on Facebook.

“She left the house … when I visited her Facebook page and saw her wearing my missing necklace, I realised that she had robbed me,” she claimed to prosecutors.

A Lebanese manager testified to prosecutors: “I once saw my co-worker [American] wearing the necklace at our workplace …when police showed me the suspect’s Facebook page, I told them it was the same necklace that I had seen my co-worker wearing.”

Records said the suspect alleged to police interrogators that she had purchased the necklace from a jewellery store in Satwa.

However, when police visited the store, the owner said they do not sell that type of necklace, said records.

A ruling will be heard on October 16.