SINGAPORE: A 24-year-old domestic helper from Myanmar was sentenced to 20 months in jail on Thursday (Feb 6) for injuring and bruising an infant under her care by pinching and biting him.
According to a CNA report, she claimed she was sleep-deprived from juggling childcare and household duties and admitted to biting or pinching the 11-month-old boy when he refused to sleep.
The presiding judge said, however, that this was no justification for abusing the baby.
The helper used to get frustrated when the baby took a long time to fall asleep, The court heard during mitigation that she took care of the baby at night and did not sleep until after midnight. Household chores and the care of two other children kept her busy during the daytime, and she got no rest, the helper said.
Through a Burmese interpreter, the woman said that she did not get enough sleep every day. She has not been named publicly as there is a gag order to protect the identity of the victim.
“Even if it was correct that the accused was deprived of sleep, there was no need to resort to abusing an innocent child and it was wholly disproportionate for the accused to have done so,” District Judge Paul Chan said.
He also underlined that violence against children will not be tolerated, and stressed the importance of children being given the full protection of the law due to their vulnerability. For ill-treating a child, one could be jailed for up to eight years, fined up to $8,000, or both.
Deputy Public Prosecutor J Jayaletchmi, who asked for a 16 to 20-month jail term for the helper, also stressed how vulnerable the baby was, especially since he could not raise an alarm over his ill-treatment.
The baby’s parents first learned about the maid’s wrongdoing when they saw a bite mark on his forearm on Nov 6, 2024. The helper, however, claimed that the baby bit himself, though she later admitted having bit him out of frustration when he would not sleep. Later that month, there was another bite mark on the baby’s arm and the helper claimed not to know how it happened. A police report against the woman was filed on Nov 24, 2024 /TISG