A Filipina who has worked as a domestic helper in Macau for over 10 years stole a handbag from a drunken local woman last week who was sitting outside the entrance of a residential building where she lives, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Mark Sou Sio Keong said during a special press conference yesterday.

In the early hours of Monday last week, the 24-year-old victim spent time in a night entertainment venue in the city centre, after which she took a taxi home at around 6:30 a.m., Sou said.

The Filipina is a 49-year-old surnamed Canaya.

The victim, who was inebriated, decided to sit outside the entrance of the residential building to rest for a while and she put her handbag next to her, Sou said.

A woman, the Filipina, approached the victim at around 7 a.m. When coming out of her drunken stupor, the victim discovered that her handbag had disappeared and assumed that it had been stolen, according to Sou.

The victim reported the case to the police. She told the police that her handbag, worth 20,000 patacas, contained a purse worth 40,000 patacas, a name-card holder worth 4,000 patacas, a mobile phone worth 10,000 patacas, HK$17,000 in cash, and several credit cards, according to Sou.

After scrutinising footage of the police forces’ citywide CCTV camera system, PJ officers found that the Filipina approached the victim and took her handbag, after which she went into a residential building nearby, Sou said.

PJ officers arrested Canaya in the area yesterday morning. Under questioning, she admitted to stealing the victim’s handbag. She told the police that she decided to take the handbag on seeing that the victim was drunk, after which she took the handbag to her employer’s home in the area. The Filipina took the handbag to the flat where she lives after she finished work in her employer’s home.

According to Sou, PJ officers went to the flat where Canaya lives and found the stolen valuables and HK$5,000 in cash. The Filipina told the police that concerning the remainder, she remitted it to the Philippines or spent it locally.

Canaya has been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further investigation, facing an aggravated theft charge. A suspect faces an aggravated theft charge if the stolen possession is worth over 30,000 patacas. 

The victim’s handbag, purse, name-card holder, mobile phone, and HK$5,000 in cash stolen by the Filipina domestic helper are displayed in a pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters in Zape yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi