Domestic helper jailed for one week after falsely claiming employer’s husband raped her

SINGAPORE: A 36-year-old Indonesian domestic worker was sentenced to one week in jail after she admitted to making a false police report alleging that she had been raped by her employer’s husband.

The court issued a gag order prohibiting the publication of the names of both the maid and her employer.

The court heard that the maid began working for her female employer in May 2023, caring for her one-and-a-half-year-old son. Around September 2024, she began engaging in consensual sexual relations with her employer’s 40-year-old husband. The court heard that the pair had intercourse on several occasions within the household, with the last encounter taking place on Feb 24 this year.

In the early hours of Feb 25, at about 1:30 a.m., police received a report of a sexual offence. Officers later found the maid at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat in Ubi, where she confirmed that she had lodged the report.

At that time, she claimed that her employer’s husband had forced her into sex multiple times and had touched her inappropriately after switching off the home’s CCTV cameras. She was taken to a hospital for examination and repeated her allegations to investigating officers, claiming she had been raped on Feb 24 and on two other occasions in September 2024.

The maid told police she had not reported the alleged incidents earlier out of fear of losing her job. She also claimed that the man had given her between S$50 and S$100 in “extra pocket money,” insisting that their encounters were not consensual.

When questioned, the employer’s husband denied the allegations and said their relationship had been entirely consensual. Later that same day, the maid retracted her statement and admitted that the sexual encounters had been consensual. She told officers she had lied because she felt guilty about the affair and wanted to end the relationship, fearing that her employer might have found out.

In mitigation, the maid’s lawyer told the court that the man had initiated sexual advances as early as August 2024 and had repeatedly pressured her to have sex, even at night while she was asleep. The lawyer said the maid felt unable to refuse as he was also her employer.

The court also heard that the maid had previously reached out to an online personality who supports domestic workers in Singapore, seeking help over the situation and reportedly told the influencer that the man had frequently entered her room and made advances, which she had rejected several times before eventually giving in to his persistence in September 2024.

After that, the two began a sexual relationship, and the man occasionally gave her money and a necklace. The maid’s lawyer argued that she had panicked after their last encounter, fearing discovery by her employer, and impulsively filed the false police report to end the relationship.

Her lawyer added that she would likely be unable to work as a domestic helper in Singapore again.