A FEMALE domestic helper accused of anesthetizing the old people she cared for and then robbing them went on trial yesterday.
　　
　　It is the second time Bian Danqing, 50, a Zhejiang Province native, has faced court.
　　
　　She was sentenced to six years in prison last May for stealing 3,500 yuan (US$493) worth of property and two further thefts of about 30,000 yuan worth of property.
　　
　　After the case, a local television station produced a documentary about her case. After the program aired, more people came forward to register allegations of theft against the woman.
　　
　　Bian, having served her prison sentence, is now facing a second trial after police investigated the reports.
　　
　　Prosecutors alleged Bian conducted seven robberies involving 44,000 yuan and some jewelry, and four thefts involving 25,000 yuan.
　　
　　She has been charged with robbery and larceny.
　　
　　Prosecutors said the victims were all 75 to 90 years old. It is alleged they went to sleep, and then found property missing when they woke up.
　　
　　The court heard Bian gained access to the families as a domestic helper using a false identification card.
　　
　　Bian told the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court she owed huge gambling debts in the village and divorced her husband a few years ago.
　　
　　Because she couldn't support her son, who was still at school, she sought work in Shanghai.
　　
　　She said she couldn't find an ideal job since she was old. But she heard others say if she used a false ID card as a domestic helper, she wouldn't be caught after stealing money.
　　
　　Bian said she was hired to look after a 75-year-old paralyzed woman in August 2005. She stole 15,000 yuan from a cabinet with a copied key and left after working there for 10 days, prosecutors said. Nobody caught her and she became braver, the court heard.
　　
　　She said she heard others claiming that feeding sleeping medicine to old people who lived alone allowed you to take whatever you wanted.