A private nurse has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing almost BD26,000 from a bed-bound elderly patient to pay off loans in her home country.
The High Criminal Court yesterday fined the Indian woman BD5,000 and ruled to deport her after completing her sentence.
The 30-year-old nurse was found guilty of using her 79-year-old patient’s phone to transfer funds from his online banking application to herself, to settle debts in India.
Prosecutors accused her of ‘exploiting the victim’s condition and lack of mobility’ to carry out the theft, as the elderly man was immobile and had difficulties speaking following a throat surgery.
The nurse was paid a monthly salary of BD300 to give the elderly Bahraini his medications, maintain his ventilator and change his clothes.
The defendant was found guilty of using the victim’s electronic signature – a one‑time password – for her own benefit, enabling her to unlawfully access his online banking and steal a total of BD25,750.
She made nine transfers into her Bahrain bank account before sending the funds back to India through an international money‑transfer service.
When confronted, she reportedly returned BD3,500 to the victim – less than 14 per cent of the original sum – as she had spent the rest to pay off outstanding loans.
The incident came to light when the patient’s 49-year-old son discovered that large amounts of money had been withdrawn from his father’s account in September and October 2025.
He traced the path of the funds, and reportedly discovered that they were credited to the bank account of the nurse who took care of his medically-dependent father.
As the defendant failed to make full restitution, the son brought the matter to the attention of the authorities.
According to the son, his father had undergone a tracheotomy two years ago – a procedure in which an opening is made in the throat to insert a tracheal tube, which allows a patient to breathe without using the nose or mouth.
“My father’s condition gets worse when he tries to speak,” the Bahraini son told the Public Prosecution.
“He wasn’t able to talk to police officers who came to our house to inquire about the incident.”
The defendant admitted during questioning that she had taken the victim’s mobile phone without his knowledge and transferred the money to her own account.
In court, the prosecution requested assistance from Indian authorities for judicial and law‑enforcement co-operation to trace the funds and attempt to recover them; however, the request does not appear to have been granted yet.
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