Sad to hear that domestic helper abuse is still pretty much common even in progressive countries such as Singapore among others, where one would think is a place where diversity meets unity, and equality to say the least, given its population of mixed nationalities.
However, this obviously isn’t the case here in the country, as protective laws do not seem to curtail incidences of abuse as we hope they would, considering the fact that domestic helpers comprise a significant part of the Republic’s total population to date.
Abuse of 2nd Maid Charged Against Convicted Singaporean Couple
A Singaporean couple who had been convicted in court in March 2017 for abusing their maid, has once again been charged with new offences for instances of assault and other forms of abuse to another maid under their employment, as shared in a report by the Straits Times.
According to the report, District Judge Olivia Low convicted Chia Yun Ling, 43, eight assault charges and one count of verbally abusing 32-year old Moe Moe Than from Myanmar who worked as a domestic helper for them back in 2012.
Furthermore, the district judge also convicted the mother of three of six offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act for having forced the maid to perform chores in her under garments, and for failing to give her adequate food.
Similarly, Judge Low also convicted Chia’s other half, former regional IT manager Tay Wee Kiat of six assault charges against the Myanmar national.
Tay, 41, was already sentenced to serve two years and four months in prison, while Chia was sentenced to two months’ jail for having committed assault against their former maid, Ms Fitriyah, 34.
However, with the new charges filed against the couple, Tay’s sentence was increased to three years and seven months, while his wife’s sentence remained at two months after filing a High Court appeal in March of last year.
It was only when Than went home in Yangon in November 2012 that the offences were discovered, which prompted the maid’s agent in Myanmar to inform the Ministry of Manpower about the maid’s case.
It was after that when Than was requested to fly back to Singapore to push through with the case.
In the meantime, Tay and Chia have been offered bail of SGD 15,000 each. The couple is expected to be sentenced on March 18.