Filipina gets suspended sentence for stealing from parttime employer

By Daisy CL Mandap

 

The defendant was seen on CCTV withdrawing stolen money at 2 ATM machines in Central MTR station

A Filipina domestic worker who admitted four counts of theft against a woman she had worked parttime for got lucky today, Monday, when she was given a suspended sentence by Eastern Principal Magistrate Ada Yim.

What’s more, the duty lawyer who appeared for Anna Marie A. Silvera, 48, told the court that her employer had expressed a desire to continue hiring her, and had even written a letter to Immigration saying, “I want her to continue working. Please give her another chance.”

After hearing this, Magistrate Yim imposed a sentence of four months’ imprisonment for each count of theft, to run concurrently – but suspended this for 18 months, allowing Silvera to walk free from the court.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

But before sentencing, the magistrate said that what Silvera had done was “serious.”

She also warned the Filipina that should she commit another offence within the 18-month suspension period, she will not only go to jail for four months, but will also have to serve the additional penalty.

Silvera’s current contract which was produced in court shows she was hired as a domestic helper on Dec. 14, 2021, and has an employment visa that will expire on Nov. 14, 2023. 

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Earlier, the helper agreed to repay the $10,700 that she had stolen, using the HSBC ATM card of Oussama Diab, for whom she was said to have worked “informally”.

In the first charge, Silvera was accused of stealing an HSBC card belonging to Diab at her Happy Valley house on Dec. 20, 2021.

Next, she was charged of using Diab’s HSBC card to withdraw $7,000 from an ATM machine on Queen’s Road Central on Jan. 2 this year.

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On Mar 2, 2022, she again used the card to withdraw $700 cash from a Hang Seng ATM machine inside the paid area of the MTR station in Central.

On the same day, she withdrew another $3,000 from the Hang Seng ATM machine near Exit B of the Central station of the MTR.

She was arrested after CCTV cameras showed her taking out the money in the three instances. But how she managed to obtain the personal identity number or PIN for the ATM card was not made clear in court.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

In mitigation, her lawyer said Silvera was separated from her husband in the Philippines with whom she has two children. She had a clear record, and had pleaded guilty at the first instance.

Magistrate Yim ordered a break in the hearing over lunch to allow the defence lawyer to find out what possible impact the sentence would have on Silvera’s employment in Hong Kong.