Indonesian maid jailed for false police report, theft Published on Aug 30, 2012 1:34 PM

An Indonesian maid who stole from her employer had lied to the police that she was assaulted by her employer and husband.

But it turned out that the numerous injuries she had were self-inflicted.

On Thursday, Tri Lestari, 31, was jailed a total of five months for stealing at least $1,600 worth of items from her employer, Ms Roslina Ng Rosli, 37; fraudulently having goods and money suspected of being stolen; and giving false information to the police.

A district court heard that the maid was referred to the maid agency when Ms Ng suspected her of stealing her things at her Bukit Panjang home. But the maid had denied taking them.

Investigation showed that in February this year, Tri Lestari had gone to the house of the maid agent's mother-in-law and handed over a large bag of items for safekeeping. She claimed that it contained clothing.

Subsequently, the bag was found to contain two watches, two pairs of shoes, a handbag and 66 pieces of assorted clothing amounting to at least $1,600, all stolen from her employer.

Other items including a gold pendant, two gold brooches and various currencies, were also found. She could not give a satisfactory account of how she came to have them.

The court also heard that on Feb 29, her employer's neighbour lodged a police report after he found her crying and asking for help.

Tri Lestari told police that Ms Ng and her husband had accused her of theft and hit her on her face, back of her head and kicked her on her back to force her to admit.

She further lied in her statement to a police officer about the assault and only came clean on March 15.