A maid and a driver who colluded to steal their employer’s debit card, then bought a smartphone using it without her knowledge, lost their appeal at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court yesterday.
In January, the Indian man and woman were sentenced to three years in prison for using the elderly woman’s electronic signature – her card’s PIN – to buy an iPhone 16 for BD295.
Judges also ordered that they be deported after completing their respective jail terms.
The duo took to the appeals court to contest the High Criminal Court’s verdict, but the penalties were upheld.
The appeals verdict revealed that the 39-year-old domestic worker found the woman’s wallet in a closed drawer, with the card inside and the PIN written on its sleeve.
The 24-year-old driver reportedly encouraged his colleague to steal it. After she successfully secured the card, she gave him a phone call and handed the card to him.
The Indian man went to a well-known hypermarket and bought the phone using the card. After being identified and contacted by police, he reportedly smashed the phone, damaged the card, and disposed of the evidence out of fear of detection.
The Bahraini woman only found out about the unauthorised purchase when her grandson came to visit her, and she asked him to check her bank account as she was experiencing difficulties accessing her funds.
He later discovered through the banking application that her balance had dropped to BD34, despite having held more than BD300 when he last checked.
The grandmother said she had not withdrawn any money or made any expensive purchases since his last visit, prompting the 27-year-old teacher to contact the bank, where he discovered that a transaction had been made.
Remembering that vendors recorded the contact details of customers who make major electronics purchases, the grandson visited the hypermarket from where the mobile was purchased.
After obtaining the buyer’s phone number, he began to suspect the domestic worker hired to assist his grandmother with household chores. The grandson confronted the maid, seized her phone, and entered the number he had obtained from the hypermarket, only to find that it belonged to a 24-year-old driver.
He filed a complaint with authorities, who looked through security footage at the hypermarket’s check-out and found video evidence of the driver buying the phone with the card and entering the PIN into the card machine.
The duo was identified, and the Indian defendant stated that he had asked the maid to steal the elderly woman’s bank card and PIN, and that they planned to sell the phone and send the proceeds to India.
When questioned by judges, the accused admitted to the charges against them.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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