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A maid and a driver who allegedly colluded to use an elderly woman’s debit card to purchase a smartphone for BD295 will learn their fate next month.
The 39-year-old domestic worker and 24-year-old driver from Malkiya are standing trial at the High Criminal Court, where they have been accused of using the victim’s electronic signature, her bank card and her money without authorisation.
The defendants’ lawyers yesterday submitted their memorandum.
According to the case details, the victim’s grandson – a 27-year-old teacher employed by the Education Ministry – visited her on September 23. He asked to review her bank account and discovered that her balance had dropped to just BD34.
He immediately contacted the bank, where an employee discovered that a BD295 transaction had been made using the card to purchase a smartphone from a popular hypermarket, which the victim was completely unaware of. The 27-year-old then visited the hypermarket and obtained the phone number of the individual who had purchased the device, knowing that major purchases – especially electronics – require customers to provide their contact details.
He suspected that the domestic worker, hired to assist his grandmother with household chores, might be involved.
After checking her phone and entering the contact details obtained from the hypermarket employee, he discovered that the smartphone had actually been purchased by a driver from Malkiya. He filed a complaint with the authorities, who launched an investigation, identified the duo and arrested them.
Security footage from the hypermarket showed the driver purchasing the phone with a bank card, and entering a PIN into the card machine on September 19 at around 9.02pm.
During interrogations, both suspects admitted to the charges.
The man confessed that he had asked the maid to steal the elderly woman’s bank card and PIN, explaining that they planned to sell the phone and send the proceeds to India.
The defendants were provisionally detained and referred to the High Criminal Court for trial by the Public Prosecution.
Judges are expected to deliver their verdict on January 27.
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