Foreign domestic workers (FDW) have become a large part of our society.
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Why?
Our domestic workers are there to aid us and take care of our homes when we’re out.
For one woman, however, the story isn’t the same. Instead of alleviating her stresses, her maid counterproductively put more pressure on her (or rather, her daughter).
FDW Abused Woman’s Daughter
On Thursday (15 December), a 39-year-old domestic helper was charged with ill-treating a child in her care.
The FDW had pinched and slapped a three-year-old girl whom she was supposed to be caring after.
How was she found out in the first place?
Telltale signs of an injury include, well… the injury.
When the girl’s mother discovered recurring bruises on her child in mid-2021, she grew worried and checked the CCTV recordings at home.
To her horror, she found that her maid had repeatedly pinched her daughter, who was sometimes just lying down trying to sleep or drinking milk.
The Indian national would pinch the girl’s chest, bicep, stomach, and back. As if pinching wasn’t enough, she slapped the girl’s forehead, mouth, face, and arms.
The girl would occasionally wake up from her sleep and cry when getting tortured. Also, this would lead to her younger brother sleeping in the same room to wake up.
I’d be lying if I said that was the worst part about the whole thing.
Abuse aside, the maid tried to cloak her evil with pretentious concern. Literally moments after pinching the girl, the maid would soothe her by rubbing the area she had just pinched.
Since then, the victim has been taken to the hospital to be treated for bruises on both her cheeks, her back, and her limbs.
Helper Wasn’t The First Suspect
Initially, when the woman noticed her daughter’s bruises, her suspicions were pinned on the preschool. She thought her child might have gotten injured in play at the centre and did not pursue the matter.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when she noticed an injury on the girl’s back.
When she approached her employee, the maid denied any wrongdoing, strengthening the lady’s confirmation of the preschool.
She lodged a police report in Jan 2022, suspecting that her daughter had been abused.
To her dismay, no evidence appeared on the CCTV. As this unfolded, she noticed her helper getting antsy and nervous.
This then triggered the female Sherlock to check her home CCTV, and the rest is history.
You Should Be Jailed
The maid likes to pinch, and now she’s in a pinch.
Calling for at least 22 months in jail, the prosecution (the child’s mother) has backed up by saying that this case of ill-treatment was challenging to detect and that if not for the CCTV cameras, the incident would never have been brought to light.
On that note, the abused was a young child who couldn’t by herself speak properly or report the incident to the police. Because she was only three, she also didn’t understand the severity and wrongfulness of the maid’s harm, said the prosecutor.
“All she could do was cry when the acts were particularly painful,” the prosecutor said.
Even worse, the maid was playing on both sides with her pseudo-compassion.
“She even turned to the accused for comfort when it was the accused who inflicted this pain on the victim.”
She said the maid treated the victim like a punching bag: no more than an avenue for physically venting her emotional struggles.
Punching bag? Pinching bag.
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The Defendant’s Take
With the barrage of allegations raining on the abuser, she tried her best to defend herself. The maid’s lawyer asked for no more than six to ten months in jail.
Explaining the situation, the lawyer said her client wasn’t a bad-natured, evil, or malicious person; this was her first brush with the law.
She highlighted that the actions were done purely out of the 39-year-old’s distress.
Why was she feeling that way in the first place?
It all begins when she first stepped foot into the Lion City.
In search of a better life, she came here to work as a domestic worker. She wanted to support herself and her children, all abandoned by her husband.
Because her family disapproved of her marriage, she had little financial assistance from them.
In India, she worked in a temple and scrimped to support her two children single-handedly. However, it was still not enough, forcing her to come to Singapore.
While working as a maid, her children were left in the care of her mother back home.
However, things took a turn for the worse as her mother contracted COVID-19 and her health deteriorated. Racking up medical bills, the helper had more financial hurdles to pass and felt more stressed.
As such, she took it out on the child.
Rational?
The judge has adjourned her sentencing to January.
Penalty
Under Section 6(6)(b) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 of ill-treating a child or young person, the helper may be liable to a fine not exceeding $8,000 and/or imprisonment not exceeding eight years.
She is currently faced with six charges under this offence.
Maybe she’d think twice before doing it again next time. Oh wait, there is no next time.
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