After stealing from her employer and fellow helper, a domestic helper in Singapore cut herself to stage a break-in.
However, the police uncovered her scheme when a K-9 sniffer dog traced the scissors to the Filipino’s fingers.
On Thursday (15 Dec), 45-year-old Gonzales Amor Coy was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one count each of theft in dwelling and lying to police.
According to The Straits Times (ST), Gonzales was employed in Feb 2019.
She stayed in the master bedroom of a three-bedroom unit, while her elderly female employer slept in a separate bedroom.
Another helper, who had been employed since 2011, slept in the utility room.
Some time that year, Gonzales stole S$350 from the other helper. Following the incident, the latter passed her valuables to the employer – comprising three pairs of gold earrings – for safekeeping.
Afterwards, their employer hid them in a locked drawer in the master bedroom. The drawer also contained her mother’s jewellery and valuables.
In total, the value of the items in the drawer exceeded S$11,000.
Aware of where her employer kept the keys to the drawers, she hatched a plan to steal the valuables and stage a break-in.
Setting her plan in motion, she bought a pair of scissors and a screwdriver on 3 Oct.
Source: Jacqui Brown on Flickr, for illustration purposes only
At about 8pm on 7 Oct, she used a handkerchief to remove the drawer’s key from her employer’s bedside drawer.
She proceeded to raid the drawer and wrapped the items in the handkerchief before hiding them behind a cabinet.
Three days later, in the early hours of 10 Oct, she started staging the break-in.
First, she used the scissors to cut herself on the left side of her neck and back.
Then, to make it appear as though someone entered from the ground floor, she opened the window in her room.
Next, she dropped a figurine from her room to the ground floor, where it broke. She also placed the scissors and screwdriver on the floor.
Once everything was in place, Gonzales shouted out to the other helper for assistance, claiming a man had broken in and attacked her.
After hearing the commotion, their employer called the police.
Within an hour, 17 police officers – including a K-9 and forensics team – arrived at the residence.
Gonzales continued with her scheme, telling officers that someone climbed into her room, attacked her and stole the valuables from the locker. The scissors and screwdriver did not belong to her, she claimed.
Subsequently, officers patrolled the area and combed through footage of nearby police cameras until 7am.
However, during their investigations, police officers did not find any evidence that the window was tampered with. Furthermore, the K-9 sniffer dog traced the scissors to Gonzales’ fingers.
At 5pm that day, the police brought her and her employer back to the scene to re-enact the break-in. They also conducted another search in the area.
When they confronted her with the evidence, Gonzales finally admitted to lying.
Thankfully, the police recovered all the valuables, with the exception of a gold necklace.
Turns out, Gonzales had pawned the necklace and used the proceeds to purchase other gold jewellery, all of which were recovered.
For theft in dwelling, Gonzales faces up to seven years’ jail and a fine. The offence of lying to the police comes with a jail term of up to two years and a fine.
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Featured image by MS News.
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