28-year-old Mei Santi Andriani pleaded guilty to two counts of theft, while three other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing on July 15, 2025.
Andriani was employed by a 59-year-old woman to provide care for her elderly parents, an 82-year-old mother-in-law and father-in-law and to handle household chores such as cooking and cleaning. While she did not live with her employer, she stayed at the residence where the elderly couple resided. In March 2025, the family temporarily moved from their private home in Mandai to a public housing flat along Yishun Ring Road due to renovation works. The elderly couple shared a room, while Andriani and the employer’s 53-year-old sister-in-law had separate rooms.
According to court findings, the sister-in-law had explicitly told Andriani she could only enter her room to clean, and only when she was home. The room was usually kept locked. However, in early May, while doing laundry, Andriani found a key to the sister-in-law’s room in a pair of trousers. She decided to keep it with the intent to steal. On May 6, she used the key to unlock the room and discovered a stash of cash in a wardrobe drawer. She took $4,700, returned to her own room, and deposited the money into her bank account later that day.
Emboldened by the initial theft, Andriani repeated the act multiple times. Between May 6 and May 28, she illegally accessed the room at least 14 times, stealing a total of $30,140. Each time, she deposited the money into her own account the same day. She later transferred a significant portion of the stolen money to her husband in Indonesia, while the remaining funds were spent on mobile games and personal expenses.
The case has sparked renewed concerns about domestic staff oversight and household security, especially when helpers are left unsupervised or given unsupervised access to private areas.