9 weeks’ jail for Singaporean employer who molested domestic helper

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean employer pleaded guilty to two counts of outrage of modesty earlier this week and was given a jail sentence of nine weeks. 

Additionally, the court ordered the 42-year-old male to pay S$70 in restitution to the victim, who had worked as a domestic helper in his household.

The man’s misdeeds were discovered after his wife complained to the helper’s agency about her working habits, according to reporting from Shin Min Daily News. In looking into the complaint, the agency found out that the man had touched the victim inappropriately twice.

The backstory

The victim is a 26-year-old Indonesian woman who started working for the employers in May 2023. She was paid S$620 per month as a domestic helper.

The male employer is reported to have patted the helper on her buttocks two times. The first time occurred in November 2023, while the helper was working in the kitchen and the female employer was not at home. 

The next time occurred the following January. The man is said to have touched the helper in the same way as he passed her by.

Bothered by the incidents, the helper told both her husband and a friend, sending this friend messages on WhatsApp. According to the report, the friend said the helper wanted to leave the home of her employer and was depressed.

Meanwhile, the wife of the man noticed that the helper had grown inattentive and distracted at work. Moreover, she was also borrowing money. As a result, the female employer reported the helper’s behaviour to the agency.

When the complaint was lodged, the household received a visit initiated by the agency on March 20, 2024. The man who conducted the visit found out that the helper had been borrowing money for online gambling. She had also borrowed S$1,000 from the male employer, which she had needed for an emergency within her family.

The investigation

However, as the agency explored the matter further, the helper told of how the male employer had touched her inappropriately.

She did not report him to the police out of fear of a scolding from the female employer, and also because she was mindful of the sum she had borrowed from the male employer.

The agency inquired into the allegation of molestation and spoke in private to the male employer, who came clean, confirming that he had done what the helper said.

In front of his wife and a representative from the agency, the male employer apologised to the helper.

On May 23, 2024, the incident was reported to the police, and the male employer was eventually arrested on April 17, 2025. The report added that he paid the helper S$500 in compensation on May 22, 2026. /TISG

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