A domestic helper stole S$677 from her elderly employers, sent most of it to her boyfriend in Indonesia, then waited at Changi Airport for days for a man who never showed up.
Depi Lestari, 41, an Indonesian national, pleaded guilty to one charge of theft on 25 August 2026. She was sentenced to four weeks’ jail, backdated to the day she was arrested.
Shin Min Daily News and Lianhe Zaobao reported the case. Mothership carried it in English on 27 August.
The Wallet In The Briefcase
At about 7am on 8 July, while her employers, a couple in their 70s, were still asleep, Lestari opened the 77-year-old man’s briefcase, took out his wallet and removed S$677 in cash.
Investigations found she decided to steal because she was short of money. She packed her belongings, took the couple’s identity documents from the house, and left.
The female employer woke at 8.30am, found both the cash and the helper gone, and called the police.
City Plaza, Then Changi, Then HarbourFront
At about 9.35am the same morning, Lestari went to City Plaza, changed S$654 of the stolen cash into Indonesian rupiah, and transferred that sum to her boyfriend’s bank account in Indonesia. She spent the rest.
She told the court she then went to Changi Airport to wait, because he had said he would fly in and return the money there.
He did not come. After a few days, he told her to take a ferry to Batam first and meet him in Jakarta.
Police had put her on a gazette. On 12 July, as she tried to take a ferry at HarbourFront Centre, she was arrested.
No Money Came Back
In court, Lestari said she stole because of severe pressure from her boyfriend. She said she regretted it and asked for a lighter sentence.
The judge said she had used her job to steal, betrayed her employers’ trust, and had not made any restitution.
If a boyfriend ever needs you to empty an elderly couple’s wallet, wait at the airport for a refund that never lands, then hop a Batam ferry, that is not a relationship. That is the exit.
