Singapore ― A couple with a four-month-old baby hired a domestic helper to take care of their child and spent over S$3,000 on agency fees. They soon discovered that their hired help was also carrying a child.
Earlier this month, the helper left the house at 11 am, informing her employers that she would visit a dentist for her toothache.
After returning at 5 pm, she told the couple that her dental bill was S$200, although didn’t have a corresponding receipt.
Wanting to help, the couple called the dental clinic to confirm and discovered that the helper made no appointment.
The domestic helper’s real itinerary was to look for her boyfriend, a Malaysian foreign worker, reported AsiaOne, quoting Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News.
The two had met in Singapore while the helper was still with a previous employer. The woman shared that the man had ghosted her.
“She cried and told us that she might be pregnant. We were shocked,” said the employer.
The couple then took the helper for pregnancy tests and asked the maid agency to help them resolve the issue.
However, the agency said the woman could still work, and they refused to take her back.
Worried that the helper would have no place to sleep, they took her home.
The woman, fearing she would lose her job over a possible pregnancy, changed her WhatsApp image to one mentioning death.
“We would wake up in the middle of the night to check on her. We were worried that something would happen to her, which would result in the loss of two lives,” said the employer.
The helper admitted not wanting to keep the baby because the child would be without a father, and she didn’t have the means to raise the child alone.
She had already tried inducing a miscarriage by taking cold medication and purchased abortion pills, reported Shin Min Daily News.
It was soon confirmed that the woman was about six weeks pregnant.
After approaching the agency once more, the company took the helper back, and she was sent home on Sept 11.
However, the couple was left without help until Sept 21.
“We hoped that the agency would either give us a new maid or provide a refund, but they haven’t been responding to us,” said the couple who had already made a police report and contacted the Ministry of Manpower.
“We even personally contacted the boss, but the matter has yet to be resolved, so we’re very disappointed.”
After hiring a new maid, the couple made sure she took a medical examination and a pregnancy test.
“We paid $3,000 to learn a lesson; we hope to remind other employers to be careful and to send their maids for medical examinations or pregnancy tests before hiring them,” they said.
Meanwhile, the agency has since responded to the Chinese daily, calling it a “regrettable incident”, although declined to comment further. /TISG
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