Employee accused of cheating boss in Coimbra says money was ‘borrowed’

A woman accused of stealing more than 80,000 euros from her boss while she was his maid in Coimbra told a Coimbra court on Monday that the sums of money were “borrowed”.

At the first court hearing, which took place this Monday morning, the defendant explained that her boss, a lonely elderly man, lent her various amounts between 2015 and 2019, which were deducted from her monthly salary. . . .

Living in an elderly man’s house and earning 1000 euros a month, he admitted that at some point he stopped paying his loans after his boss told him that the bills were “borrowed”.

Among her duties, which she was hired for after answering an advertisement in the Diário de Coimbra newspaper, were housekeeping duties, making the necessary food purchases, helping with daily chores, including driving a vehicle from your boss.

“I never but never intended to deceive you (…). He was always very helpful to me,” she said, adding that she eventually developed family ties with her boss, who treated her like a daughter.

According to the 61-year-old woman, her boss, “a sensible, shrewd person who was not deceived,” transferred her salary, as well as amounts for household expenses, to the account to which she gave her an ATM card. .

In the early years, bills were checked, which he admitted stopped happening on a date he could not give.

In the same way, some borrowed amounts were transferred to him, which, according to him, were intended to pay for medical expenses and for which 10 thousand euros were transferred, which, as he assured, he did not ask.

“When he gave me 10 thousand euros, he told me to withdraw the money and do what I want with it,” he stressed, thus justifying several daily withdrawals of 400 euros, the maximum amount allowed.

The 61-year-old woman testified that all withdrawals were made with the permission and knowledge of a supervisor who had access to bank statements.

“When I told him that he had children, he told me that this would not change anything and that he had a lot for children,” he assured.

Within two hours, he also reported a “lack of courage” when he told his superior that he was out to serve a three-month prison sentence, justifying hospitalization for medical treatment.

This first hearing also heard as a witness the victim’s “middle” son, a construction entrepreneur, who explained that over the course of five years he had noticed a growing intimacy between father and maid. , who was even driving his Jaguar, with whom he had an accident.

She also noted a longer absence of about three months, which the maid justified by hospitalization for treatment, and that an employee of her father’s company told her that a man who, according to the defendant, was her friend, was seen driving her car.

In January 2019, his father was hospitalized in a “very serious” condition in intensive care, causing the maid to be fired after being asked to hand over car and house keys and an ATM card.

He told the Coimbra court that since the maid did not return the keys to the house, they changed the locks and then sent him his things.

It was at this time that he said he found letters addressed to a maid, which had been sent to prison during his three months’ absence.

“Until January 2019, I didn’t even know about loans. We had payments only for salaries and household expenses, ”he emphasized, also indicating that only then did he find a cover that mentioned loans, including those that he entered into an agreement with his father.

According to the victim’s son, on this cover, his father documented everything that was borrowed or given, and “it’s not because he was a son or not, which made business easier.”

After being hospitalized, the elderly man “lost his memory” and is currently “in a nursing home”.

The next trial lesson is scheduled for the morning of June 5th.