Indonesian maid acquitted by Singapore High Court after being convicted of stealing from Changi Airport boss Liew Mun Leong
- Parti Liyani was Liew’s maid for about nine years until her employment was abruptly terminated in October 2016
- After she was fired, she threatened to lodge a complaint about working illegally for Liew’s son. She was subsequently accused of theft
Last year, a district judge found Parti Liyani, 46, guilty of four theft charges and sentenced her to 26 months in jail. But on Friday, Justice Chan Seng Onn ruled that the lower court judge had failed to consider several points, including the credibility of the testimony of Liew’s son, Karl Liew.
Parti, an Indonesian national, was the elder Liew’s maid for about nine years until her employment was abruptly terminated on October 28, 2016.
The elder Liew, who is also chairman of Surbana Jurong, and his son lodged a police report against Parti two days after firing her. They accused her of stealing items including 115 pieces of clothing, a DVD player, a Gerald Genta luxury watch, a Prada bag and Gucci sunglasses.
Chan found there was “ample basis” for Parti to make the complaint and the Liews may not have reported her to the police without her threat.
As the consequences of a complaint by Parti would be serious, the judge said he believed the Liews would be “very concerned” if she followed through.
Karl Liew and his father therefore had an “improper motive” in lodging the police report, Chan said.
“There is reason to believe that the Liew family, upon realising her unhappiness, took the pre-emptive first step to terminate without giving her sufficient time to pack and complain to [the manpower ministry],” he said.
As for the chain of custody of evidence, the judge found that police had delayed in seizing the items and the Liews had mishandled them.
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After Parti was fired, Karl Liew gave her three jumbo boxes and two hours to pack her belongings which were then sealed with tape. He eventually agreed to pay for them to be shipped back.
When Parti left for Indonesia later that day, Liew’s wife suspected she had stolen thermal wear as well so they checked the boxes the next morning. They spent two hours on this and took a 21-second video.
They then took some items out of the boxes to use. Karl Liew was also only able to identify 34 items from the video footage they took.
There was a “real possibility of a mix-up of items” and reasonable doubt they were accurately documented in photographs taken five weeks later. The trial judge also did not consider expert evidence that was unchallenged by the prosecution, Chan said.
Many of the items appeared old, not functioning well or of much lower value than the Liews testified, the High Court judge said.
For example, the Helix watch – originally valued by Karl Liew at S$50 – was a corporate gift.
I’m so glad I’m finally free. I’ve been fighting for four years now
Karl Liew was also “not only lacking in credibility but did not take the process of giving testimony seriously”, Chan said.
His evidence that he had multiple items of women’s clothing, some of which were for smaller-sized women, was “highly suspect”. He had testified during the trial that he liked to cross-dress.
“I’m troubled by various aspects of Karl’s evidence that the [District Court] judge did not appear to have considered,” the High Court judge added.
He further noted that Parti did not have a Bahasa Indonesia interpreter with her when she was interrogated by the police, and lacked the chance to view the “large number of physical items”.
After the hearing ended, Parti – who has stayed in a shelter run by non-governmental organisation Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) since her arrest – cried and hugged several Home employees.
She told reporters through an interpreter: “I’m so glad I’m finally free. I’ve been fighting for four years now and I’ve been strong all this while.”
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When questioned on her future plans, she said she would like to return home. However, she still faces a fifth charge of fraudulently possessing other alleged stolen items owned by unidentified individuals.
Her pro bono lawyer, Anil Balchandani from Red Lion Circle, said they are “ready to stand trial” on this charge. They will also speak to the Liews to seek compensation for Parti’s loss of income over the last four years.
The loss is assessed to be “several tens of thousands of dollars”, Balchandani said.
Asked if she had anything to say to her lawyer, Parti hugged him and said: “I’m so grateful to Anil. I don’t know how to pay him back.”
“I did nothing much except to repeat what she told me,” he replied.
Chan had commended Balchandani, saying he “put in a lot of effort and showed a lot of dedication in his work”.
The lawyer also represented Parti during the District Court trial.
Read the original article at Today Online.
