An expatriate Sri Lankan maid has been sentenced by a Doha Criminal Court to one year in jail and subsequent deportation for stealing jewellery and cash from her sponsor.

Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported on Wednesday that the court convicted the maid of stealing a gold chain and earring in addition to various sums of money that exceeded QR10,000 in total.

The theft was noticed first when the sister-in-law of the sponsor told her that she lost her gold earring and chain at her house. The sister-in-law was staying with the employer as a guest before travelling to Europe and she called her after she left the country upon discovering the jewellery were missing in addition to a sum of money in Euros.

Accordingly, the employer searched the room of the maid, while she was away and found branded expensive sunglasses, 70 Euros, the missing golden chain, and receipts of transferring various sums of money to her home country within the previous two months. The money sent included QR2,800 and QR2,400 though her salary was only QR900.
When the maid came back, the employer asked her to explain why such things were found in her room. The maid told her she got the money and the sunglasses from another maid employed by another sponsor. But the maid denied that later. Also, when the employer searched the handbag of the defendant she found another receipt of transferring QR4,250.

During the interrogation, the maid claimed that jewellery etc. could’ve been left by the guests who were using her room while they were in Doha. However, based on the presented evidences the court convicted the maid.