SINGAPORE: A woman who hit her maid's fingers with a wooden backscratcher, fracturing them, was sentenced to jail for 10 months on Monday (Apr 29).
Indonesian national Weti Alimi Carmadi, 33, starting working for Ng Bee Choo, 48, as a domestic helper from October 2016.
AdvertisementMs Weti's duties included cleaning the house and caring for Ng's elderly mother, who is wheelchair-bound and has heart problems.
About a year into Ms Weti's employment, Ng started physically and verbally abusing her helper for mistakes she made, the court heard.
"Whenever the victim was being verbally or physically abused, she would plead with the accused not to be abused and the accused would desist," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Houston Johannus.
"However, the victim did not seek help or tell anyone about the abuses she had to endure from the accused as she was frightened."
AdvertisementAdvertisementIn late January last year, Ng was preparing to go to work when she noticed that Ms Weti had dropped a bottle of medication meant for Ng's mother onto the floor, spilling the contents.
When Ng saw Ms Weti pick up the pills from the floor and feed them to the elderly woman, she became “furious”, the court heard.
Ng picked up a 45cm-long wooden scratcher and struck the maid once on the head. Ng continued to hit Ms Weti's head repeatedly, and the maid used her hands to cover her head, causing her fingers to be struck as well.
Soon after, Ng left for work while Ms Weti continued doing her chores, in pain and with swollen hands.
MAID SAVED BY NEIGHBOUR
Sometime later that month, Ng's neighbour Madam Salbiah Jamali heard from her husband that a woman had been "moaning in pain" in Ng's flat.
On Jan 28, 2018, Mdm Salbiah called the police and said: “I suspect that the maid in my neighbour’s unit is being abused. I saw a bruise below her eye previously and I approached her to see if she is okay. She seems reluctant as she is quite timid."
Police officers went to the flat but no one answered the door, so they returned again a few days later and found Ms Weti injured with bloodshot eyes.
She was taken to Changi General Hospital with injuries including two fractured fingers, swelling on both hands and bruises over her eyes.
Ng pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, with another two charges of mistreating the maid taken into consideration.
The prosecutor told the court that while Ng had tried making amends by giving Ms Weti S$12,800 as compensation for her pain, suffering and loss of income for being jobless for 13 months after the incident, "this does not detract from the gravity of the offences" Ng committed against a vulnerable victim.
He asked for at least 10 months' jail, saying that Ng's scolding and assault made Ms Weti "frightened", "in pain", and afraid to make mistakes.
For voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Ms Weti, Ng could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned. On top of this, she could have been given one-and-a-half times the ordinary punishment as the offence was against her own domestic helper.
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