Maid sentenced to 22 weeks in jail for pulling the hair and kicking the head of a 15-month-old son

SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old Indonesian maid was sent to jail for abusing a 15-month-old child, including pulling his hair, pinching his face, kicking his head, and throwing him. She pleaded guilty to three charges of intentional assault and was sentenced to 22 weeks’ imprisonment. 

What happened?

According to the case details, the victim’s maternal grandfather hired the maid in 2024 to take care of the child. With this, the maid slept in the same room as the victim, and they lived together with the victim’s aunt, the aunt’s boyfriend, and the victim’s maternal grandparents. 

The family installed a CCTV camera to secure the child’s safety, and the footage was recorded in real-time to the family’s mobile phones. It was then discovered that the suspect repeatedly used plush toys to obscure the camera, making it difficult to see what was really happening inside the room. 

The family re-mounted the CCTV camera, and while reviewing the footage between March and April 2025, they saw multiple instances of abuse of the child. Investigations revealed that all the incidents happened at night when the suspect was alone with the victim. There was an instance when the suspect slapped the victim’s buttocks, grabbed his hands and threw him heavily back onto the bed. The maid also pinched his face and slapped his mouth, causing the child to cry.

Furthermore, there was an event where the suspect pulled the victim’s hair, grabbed his arm roughly, lifted him up, and pinched his face. Another abuse was when the suspect kicked the child in the head and neck just because the child touched her leg, sending him flying to the other side of the bed. 

With this, the aunt called the police last April 2024, and the maid was arrested. The maid admitted that she would lose control and hit the victim. There were scratch marks found on the victim’s face, fingers, and feet. 

“She (the suspect) also has a son who is about the same age as my grandson. I thought she would be more considerate of the child, but I never expected her to be so cruel,” the grandmother admitted in an interview. 

In similar news about abuse, there was also a report that a woman caught on video forcefully slapping a man in a wheelchair at a bus interchange sparked concerns on social media. 

In the video, the woman tried to push the wheelchair several times, but she encountered resistance from the man. All of a sudden, she raised her right hand and slapped the man on the right side of his head.

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