A Singaporean woman has pleaded guilty to physically abusing her helper from 2017 to 2018 when the Myanmar national worked for her.
The employer, 35-year-old Zhao Lin, who worked as a nurse when the helper worked for her, would sometimes even hit the maid in the presence of Zhao’s young son, who was only four years old at the time.
Zhao would also at times take away between $100 to $200 a month from the helper’s salary of $500, and even hurled the helper’s phone to the ground, destroying it.
On Monday (Apr 4), Zhao pleaded guilty to four counts of voluntarily causing hurt and one of mischief.
She will return for sentencing on May 9, when four additional counts will also be considered.
The helper, Ma Ei, now 29, arrived in Singapore in 2016 at the age of 23 and worked for Zhao, taking care of the household and Zhao’s son. She worked long days, getting up at 6:30 am and sleeping at midnight.
But the physical abuse began in 2017, which was the same time that Zhao would cut the helper’s pay when she broke a plate or made other similar mistakes.
Whenever Zhao was dissatisfied with how Ms Ma Ei did the chores or felt that she had a bad attitude, she would hit the helper.
But things came to a head-on on Aug 25, 2018. On that day, Zhao got upset with Ms Ma Ei, claiming that the healer had not put her son’s toys away properly.
She then slapped the maid ten times on her cheeks, so hard that Ms Ma Ei had to step back due to the strength of the blows, The Straits Times reported.
The slaps were loud enough to be heard on surveillance footage.
“I will do it until you are really, really scared… Next time, follow do my way… You know what is called ‘do it my way’ or not?” Zhao told Ms Ma Ei, who then went to the bedroom room and wept alone, Teo Lu Jia, the Deputy Public Prosecutor on the case, told the court.
Zhao’s threats to the helper were also caught on CCTV.
That afternoon, at half-past 4 pm, as the helper was cleaning the living room, Zhao shouted at Ms Ma Ei and proceeded to slap her several times.
“If you do wrong things, I will straightaway two slaps for you! You better go and think! Think first! Think first and do!” the employer told the helper.
The helper answered back, which angered Zhao further, and she kicked Ms Ma Ei’s leg and hit her in the face and arm.
This shocked Zhao’s son, who asked his mum why she hit the helper.
Ms Ma Ei reported Zhao’s abusive behaviour by calling the police at around 5:15 pm.
After the phone call ended, Zhao commenced attacking the helper again, Today reported.
When the police arrived, they tried to get the footage from CCTV, but Zhao would not give it. Her husband, however, assisted the police when he came home.
The helper was brought to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital later that day, where a doctor discovered she had abrasions and bruises in different parts of her body.
For the charge of voluntarily causing hurt, Zhao could be jailed for as long as two years for each count, as well as pay as much as $5000 in fines. However, since she committed this against a domestic helper, Zhao may be given one and a half times the highest penalty. /TISG
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