In many different ways, and mostly unknown to others, people who work as domestic helpers are often subject to abuse for reasons that can be just about anything as to the discretion and judgment of their employers.
In the course of one-and-a-half years, a mother of four children has repeatedly abused her maid in varying degrees, such as pinching her limbs with pliers, poking her torso with the metal point of a bamboo pole, and even burning her hand with iron as she was working.
Woman who Repeatedly Abused Maid Sentenced to Prison
According to a report shared by Yahoo! News Singapore, the injuries were so appalling that they have left permanent disfigurations on the victim, an Indonesian maid, who was also made to sleep on the floors and was fed as little as twice a week.
Last Monday (December 24), the employer who was identified as 51-year-old Anita Damu (a.k.a Shazana Abdullah) was sentenced to serve a total jail term of two years and seven months. The State Court had also ordered her to pay the victim compensation of $8,000, on top of the $4,000 in compensation out of her own volition.
The victim, Siti Khodijah, 29, has worked for Anita since October 2013 up until April 2015 for which she was paid $522 every month without any days off or access to a mobile phone. Also, Siti was not allowed to leave her employer’s residence without her permission.
In coming up with the decision, District Judge Terence Tay shared, “Pictures paint a thousand words. My words cannot describe how serious the injuries (on the victim) are.”
Earlier, the accused had already pleaded guilty to two charges of causing injuries, and another two counts of causing aggravated hurt, as well as one count of breaching work pass conditions. Three other counts of causing hurt and another charge of aggravating causing hurt were also put into consideration to her sentence as part of her plea bargain.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Yang Ziliang and Claire Poh had asked for a total of 4 years’ jail time for the accused.
Anita had asked her lawyers Ragbir Singh and Sarindar Singh for a fine as part of her appeal against the jail term.