Some days we can get a bit more sensitive than others and some comments feel a tad more prickly than usual. But never is it justified to retaliate with physical violence. Unfortunately, for a domestic helper’s employer, he did not get the memo.
On 8 February, Suriya Krishnan, 25, was sentenced to six months’ jail and ordered to pay a domestic helper S$8,500 in compensation.
So what exactly did he do?
Incident
On 29 May 2020, Suriya punched the domestic helper thrice in her face, causing fractures.
His reason? He was upset by the manner she cut some food for him and by her remark that he ate a lot.
Now you might be thinking, seriously?
Well, that same night, Suriya’s family was celebrating his father’s birthday in the flat. Before celebrations began, Suriya consumed a 750ml bottle of liquor and was intoxicated.
Ah, it all makes sense now.
At about 8.30pm, Suriya’s mother instructed the maid to cut some jelly for Suriya. She went to the kitchen to do so but was followed by Suriya, who asked her to prepare some food for him.
The maid passed a remark to the effect that Suriya ate a lot. This, along with the fact that she did not cut the jelly in a manner that he wanted, made Suriya upset.
He scolded her, prompting his mother to intervene and to scold him.
He left the kitchen, but later returned and punched the maid’s face three times. One of the punches landed under her right eye, and she covered her face in pain and crouched.
Suriya was quickly restrained by his family members.
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Victim Sought Medical Treatment
After the incident, the victim sought medical treatment and was found to have suffered fractures of her right orbital floor and lamina papyracea, around her eye region. She also had bruising and bleeding, with pain on eye movement.
She was admitted to the hospital and later discharged for outpatient follow-up treatment, and the hospital filed a police report.
The victim, a 27-year-old Myanmar national, was employed by Suriya’s sister. Together, the victim, Suriya, his sister and his parents lived in a flat in Hougang.
She stopped working for Suriya’s sister after the incident but was paid for the month of May 2020. She later found a new job on Aug 7, 2020, but went without salary for the months of June and July that year.
Charges and Sentence
Suriya pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to the domestic helper where the hurt was not intended to be grievous but turned out to be so. A second charge of kicking her head, shoulder and thigh was taken into consideration.
The prosecutor asked for seven months’ jail, saying the case involved a vulnerable victim, and that Suriya was voluntarily intoxicated at the time.
On top of this, the prosecution sought a compensation order of S$8,500. S$1,000 for the victim’s loss of income and S$7,500 for her pain and suffering.
In Suriya’s defence, his lawyer asked for six months’ jail instead. He said the maid had smirked when Suriya’s mother scolded him, which “provoked” him to punch her. Uh sure, but how does that justify violence?
To which, the judge voiced our thoughts exactly.
The lawyer said there was some form of provocation. He also pointed out that the maid was in the hospital for “only seven days”, with no evidence she suffered psychologically from the attack.
It was a one-off incident, with no trend of abusive conduct, and his client did not target the victim’s eye area, he said. Yeah, still not justified though.
Suriya who was unable to pay the compensation would serve the jail term in default.
The judge ordered him to serve six months’ jail. If he cannot pay the S$8,500 in compensation, he will have to serve another one month in default.
A heavy price to pay for an intoxicated act indeed. If anything, we sure did take away alcohol does no benefit for one’s rationality. Furthermore, violence of any form on one’s employee is not tolerated.
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