Restaurant workers steal Dhs108,000 items

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Five restaurant workers landed in court on Thursday over the theft of cash, food and juice worth Dhs108,000 from a Bur Dubai restaurant.

The Asian defendants -a female supervisor, a waiter, a cook, the waiter’s colleague and a cashier teamed up to steal money, food, juice and salads on several occasions from March to July 9, the Criminal Court heard.

Its Kenyan manager, 31, said on several occasions in March, he noticed there were many clients paying by cash. But at the end of each day, proceeds were less than expected.

He notified the restaurant owner.

Both handed someone a Dhs100 bill and sent him to the restaurant to buy food.

“He handed the bill to the supervisor. At the end of the day, we checked the safe and did not find the bill,” explained the manager.

“We also discovered she did not register the transaction in the e-system. CCTV footage showed her and the others stealing money from the safe besides edibles and juices. She would keep the stolen money with her.

“She would share it with them. One day I followed them to the employees’ dining room and caught them red-handed eating meals they had snatched. They begged me to pardon them and not to tell the owner.”

Before prosecutors, the cashier confessed and revealed how they used to snatch food, juices and salads at night and during afternoon break time.

They would also receive money from clients and pocket some of it. The waiter contended he was a new employee. He saw others snatching meals.

“The supervisor told me the restaurant owner had advised them not to throw leftovers,” he claimed that the food was unwanted one.

Prosecutors confronted him with surveillance footage showing him stashing a bag full of rice inside a handbag then covering it with tissue.

He contended he was taking it to the supervisor who was hungry.

“She and another female employee had told me that eating such rice was allowed before. But when the current manager took office, he banned it. Thus I covered it to avoid being detected,” he allegedly said. The supervisor confessed she stole food, cash and stored items.

She connived with subordinates to conceal the thefts that lasted for months. The colleague said he would add some proceeds to employees’ bonuses.

Ten CCTV clips showed the supervisor and the cook stealing food. She appeared hiding money in a phone cover. The waiter appeared snatching and eating food prepared for clients. The cashier appeared snatching banknotes from a safe and placing them in his pocket. Case continues.