Tag: maid

Maid Sentenced To Two Weeks Jail For Fracturing Baby’s Elbow

A maid was sentenced to two weeks’ jail after she caused a fracture on the right elbow of her employer’s seven-month-old daughter in February by yanking on the baby’s arm.

Valencia Gemalyn Garma, 24, a Filipina, had been employed to do general house cleaning and look after her employer’s two children.

The court heard that on Feb 21, at about 1.30am, Garma, who had been working for the family for seven months, had settled down to sleep with the baby when the child began crying.

She said she had not managed to fall asleep and was agitated and tired after having had to care for her employer’s older child, who is two years old. She picked up the baby in an attempt to pacify her, carrying her on her right arm.

Later, she transferred the baby to her chest by forcefully pulling at the baby’s right arm. When the baby continued crying for 10 minutes, Garma suspected that she had hurt the baby, but she did not inform her employer out of fear.

The employer was awakened by the baby’s cries and took over, telling Garma to go to sleep.

But when her daughter continued to cry for half an hour before falling asleep, and woke up crying again at 3am, she became concerned that the baby might be in pain. Examinations by doctors at Thomson Medical Centre and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital revealed that the child had suffered a fracture to her right elbow.

When questioned by her employer, Garma initially denied any involvement but later admitted to hurting the child.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Fong Jin Heng submitted that Garma’s failure to inform her employer of the possible injury significantly delayed the baby’s mother from seeking necessary medical attention.

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong took into account the fact that Garma had not had prior experience in caring for children and her tired state at the time of the negligent act, and ordered a sentence of two weeks’ jail.

For causing grievous hurt by a negligent act, Garma could have been jailed up to six months and fined up to $2,500.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

July 2, 2015
72 Year Old Man Jailed One Year For Molesting Maid

A 72-year-old man claimed that he was a doctor and instructed a maid to strip for health examination.

Chia Fook Kun later molested the 23-year-old maid, who was in his care as she was being investigated for stealing from her previous employer.

He was given one year in jail on Friday on one count of outrage of modesty, while two other charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that Chia works part-time for a maid agency and would send domestic helpers from one location to another. He would also put up maids in his Jalan Minyak flat as and when required. On Nov 13 last year, the victim – who cannot be named because of a gag order – was arrested because she was caught stealing. Her agency had arranged for Chia to bail her out and to take custody of her during investigations.

The victim later asked Chia to help her as she did not want to go to jail.

Three days later, Chia lied to the victim that he was a doctor and showed her some photos and certificates on his computer to trick her into believing him.

After “examining” her with a blood pressure device and a stethoscope, he told her she was in poor health and he wanted to apply some cream on her chest.

Chia then made her go to the bedroom and remove her shirt and bra, before applying the cream on her breasts. He later unbuttoned her jeans but was interrupted by a phone call. While he was answering the phone, the victim dressed herself and left the room. She later made a police report.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) James Low called for a sentence of a year. He noted that Chia was also convicted of outrage of modesty in 2001 and was jailed for 15 months then. DPP Low added that the victim was vulnerable and Chia took advantage of her fear.

Another aggravating factor was the “significant degree of deception and premeditation” as Chia claimed he was a doctor and even produced documents to trick the victim though he was not medically trained, said DPP Low. “If not for his age, the prosecution would have sought a stiffer sentence.”

Chia’s lawyer Louis Joseph said that his client is in poor health and regretted his actions. He asked for a lighter sentence.

District Judge Liew Thiam Leng sentenced Chia to a year in jail, after considering the two other charges and his previous conviction. Chia asked to defer his sentence for two weeks and the judge raised his bail from $5,000 to $15,000.

He could have been jailed up to two years and fined.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

June 20, 2015
Maid Jailed 12 Years For Strangling 16 Year Old Daughter Of Employer

A domestic maid who strangled her employer’s 16-year-old daughter with the girl’s own school pinafore while the teenager was asleep, was on Monday jailed for 12 years.

Indonesian Tuti Aeliyah, 30, pleaded guilty in the High Court to one charge of culpable homicide for killing Shameera Basha Noor Basha, a Secondary 4 student at Tanjong Katong Girls’ School, on Nov 14, 2013.

Tuti was originally charged with murder, but the charge was reduced after she was diagnosed to be suffering from severe depression with psychotic symptoms at the time. Her mental condition was found to have significantly impaired her judgment.

The High Court heard on Monday that Tuti, who started working for the teen’s family of four in April 2012, was not abused or ill-treated by her employers.

But several months before the killing, she started behaving strangely. She lost weight, did not want to call home and cried frequently. Two weeks before the incident, she told a neighbour’s maid that she wanted to commit suicide.

She told a psychiatrist that the night before the killing, she tried to kill herself but failed.

The next morning, Shameera was still asleep and alone at home with the maid after her parents and brother left their Tampines flat. The maid claimed that while she was in the toilet, she saw a ghost which told her to kill the teenager.

At 8am, armed with a kitchen knife, she went into the teen’s room and tried to smother her with a pillow. After Shameera woke up and struggled, the maid stabbed her in the abdomen and chest. The maid then looped Shameera’s dark green pinafore around her neck a few times and pulled both ends until the teen stopped moving.

Tuti then drank half a capful of fabric softener, made superficial cuts on her wrist with a knife and tried to hang herself from from a toilet pipe but failed to kill herself.

Half an hour past noon, when the teen’s mother returned home, the maid told her employer that she had killed Shameera. Shocked, the 47-year-old woman sought help from a neighbour, who called the police.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 25, 2015
Maid Punched, Slapped For Eating Fish Not Meant For Her

In 2012, a Filipino maid jumped from the bedroom window of a sixth-floor condominium unit to escape the alleged abuse by her employer and her employer’s mother.

A district court heard that she landed on the fifth-floor rooftop of another building at Maplewoods condominium and broke her legs as a result.

Her employer, Chua Siew Peng, 43, went on trial yesterday for wrongfully confining Ms Jonna Memeje Muegue at the Bukit Timah Road condominium on Oct 30, 2012, and slapping her the night before.

Her 74-year-old mother, retired radiograph and medicine technician Lum Wai Lui, will know her fate next month for allegedly pulling the maid’s hair, knocking her head on the wall and pouring bleach on her hands and arms on Oct 29 that year.

Chua’s 41-year-old sister, Kathleen Chua Siew Wei, is also accused of slapping the maid sometime in May that year.

Yesterday, Ms Muegue, 26, who is now working for another employer, testified that she was initially treated well when she started work in December 2011.

She said she was never given the key to the unit’s door and gate from the time she began working for the family.

She said Lui, whom she called “por por” (grandmother), punished her for eating fish that was not meant for her on Oct 29 that year. After Lum found out, she punched, slapped and slammed Ms Muegue’s head against the wall of the kitchen toilet.

Ms Muegue said: “She used bleach on me and she poured bleach on my hands and my body.”

A few minutes later, she said, Chua Siew Peng came in and pulled her hair and slapped her many times.

Chua then told her to stand in one corner of the toilet and to take a shower at around midnight.

In the morning, she was alone in the flat when she climbed out of a bedroom window and escaped.

She was later referred to the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics and a police report was lodged. She was warded in hospital and then admitted to a nursing home.

The hearing continues.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

April 21, 2015
My Maid Is Trying To Force A Move Back Home

My maid, who is still under her contract, is trying to force a move back. If we were to send her back while under contract with the agency, we will have to pay a sum which I think is unfair considering the way she is behaving to force us to send her back.

Here are some of the things that she does. We have 2 cats, and of course we let them roam free outside the house, she has a habit of closing the door when the cats are still outside. Whether or not purposely, I don’t know, but this is happening around twice a week.

She doesn’t clean the bedroom unless told to. She ‘sleeps’ at 10pm, earliest in the house. As some of the people in this house have school or work in the morning, we don’t expect a buffet breakfast but at least a cup of tea or coffee in the morning might be good. But she sleeps at 10pm and wake up only when she wakes up naturally. My sister who share a room with her then told me that she can’t sleep at night sometimes cause she heard the maid talking on the phone around midnight.

This wasn’t the case previously, when she started out, she was a good domestic working. Making breakfast, doing chores.

Now she takes 30 minutes to go to the grocery shop, which is 1 block away. She sits down for hours ‘reading’ cooking books(using her handphone), but will cook curry 3-4 times a week. Cooking fried rice to her means mixing sambal belacan with rice(no seasoning, no egg or any other ingredients) And worst of all, she doesn’t flush after using the toilet.

Like I said, this isn’t the case when she started off. I think she is trying to force a move back since she is unhappy here, and doing as little as possible in the house is her way of doing it. Any advice on what I can do?

Sick of Curry

TRS Contributor

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

April 17, 2015