Zhi Hao, Author at Goody Feed

It appears that employers and foreign domestic helpers are experiencing increasingly strained and tumultuous relationships in recent years. You may have heard of instances where employers subject their helpers to inhumane treatment, such as this particular scenario here. You may have also heard of instances where helpers abuse their employers' children in an act of betrayal, such as the following scenario: Maid Elbowed & Stepped on 1YO Till He Fell; She Was ‘Upset’ & Vented Her Unhappiness on the Child According to The Straits Times, a maid from Indonesia has been sentenced to nine months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of ill-treating her employer's child. Apparently, the 42-year-old had stepped on the baby, who was just one-year-old at the time, and pushed his head. She also elbowed him in the face. According to the news report, the incident occurred at around 11:15am on 8 May 2020. The maid, Suliana Kasim Dapok, was working when the baby vomited in the living room. She then proceeded to clean the mess with detergent. Around this time, the victim began walking towards her. Not wanting the baby to touch the detergent, she reportedly elbowed him in his face. The victim fell over, and broke into tears. After cleansing the carpet, the maid began to walk towards the kitchen and thought that the baby was about to grab her leg. Unwilling, and frustrated over having to clean up the mess, she vented her anger by stepping on his right knee. And It Has Not Ended Around twenty minutes later, the abuse persisted. "The accused was sitting on the sofa folding the laundry," Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ben Mathias Tan said. "The accused motioned for the victim to come over, which the victim did. "The accused then pushed the victim's head, causing him to fall to the floor. The accused thereafter grabbed the victim's leg to pull him towards her, and checked the victim's diapers." Later on, she made sure to step on the baby's right leg as she got up from the sofa. The abuse was captured by a closed-circuit television camera inside the flat. Sentencing Around an hour later, the baby was taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, where he was found to have sustained bruising along his spine. The police were notified at 1:12pm that day. In court, the accused was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for her offences. For each count of ill-treating a child, she could face an imprisonment term of up to eight years and a fine of up to S$8,000. Previous Cases Instances where maids have abused their employers' children are not exactly a rare occurrence over the last decade. On 12 April 2020, a domestic helper beat her employers' son numerous times with a clothes hanger, causing bruises on his body. The boy was just 19 months old at the time. She subsequently lied to the child's parents by saying that he had fallen down, but was eventually arrested by the police. She was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. And on 11 April 2018, a maid abused her employer's one-year-old son, and recorded the acts. She later sent the videos to a man named Raymond, whom she was having an affair with. She was later sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. Yet Despite Everything... Not all is bad. In fact, most employer-helper relationships are actually healthy ones. In one particular case, a domestic helper who had been with her employers for 31 years suffered a stroke, and was left in a vulnerable state. To make matters worse, she suffered another stroke, just three weeks after the first. As a result, all progress made on therapy were rendered redundant. She also had to grapple with hefty medical bills, since she is not entitled to government subsidies due to her nationality. As such, her employers have turned to crowdfunding page Give.Asia, where they hope to raise a sufficient amount to assist her. “We hope to be able to provide her with the best care we can right now,” one of the family members wrote. “Allowing her to return back to her home town one day when she is better.” Feature Image: rawf8 / Shutterstock.com