After their helper requested to be sent back, 46-year-old Tan Pei Ling and her elderly parents abused the helper with a hot iron and knife.
On Tuesday (7 Mar), Tan pleaded guilty to two assault charges. She received a 20-month jail sentence and an order to compensate the victim S$20,000.
Her mother, 68-year-old Tan Ai Tee, admitted to one assault charge and received nine months’ jail, in addition to a S$2,500 compensation order.
Pei Ling’s father, 70-year-old Tan Huat, has to pay S$500 in compensation and serve three weeks’ jail for one assault charge.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that in January 2020, the victim, 27-year-old Heni Rahayu, came to work for the family in their Ang Mo Kio flat.
She had to do their chores, starting work at 6am and sleeping only at 2am to 4am after completing them.
Not fluent in English, Heni communicated in Bahasa Indonesia. As such, she could only speak fluently with Huat who knew Bahasa Melayu.
After a week of working for them, she reportedly told Huat that she wanted to return to the agency as she felt that Ai Tee and Pei Ling did not find her performance satisfactory.
Soon after the confession, Ai Tee would allegedly hit Heni if she was unhappy with her work. This involved knocking her head with her fist and striking her with a plastic pail.
In June 2020, Huat slapped Heni twice, demanding that she reply to his wife and daughter if they spoke to her. This was the only time he assaulted her.
During that same month, Pei Ling allegedly began hitting Heni too. She apparently used a plastic chair and metal pole to assault the helper.
On one occasion between April and June 2020, Ai Tee injured Heni’s hand with a knife, The Straits Times (ST) noted.
The elder female Tan supposedly felt that the helper had been cutting vegetables too slowly. Thereafter, she reached out to her daughter for help to stop the bleeding.
However, they allegedly did not seek medical assistance.
According to CNA, Heni didn’t inform Huat about the other abuse as she felt that he wouldn’t be able to help since her abusers were his family members.
Meanwhile, her inability to communicate meant that she couldn’t approach other family members in the flat, such as Pei Ling’s brother and son.
Without access to a mobile phone, Heni also couldn’t contact her agency.
Moreover, her employers allegedly gave her no days off and didn’t allow her to leave the flat by herself.
The situation eventually escalated at about 2.30am on 23 Jul 2020, while the victim was completing her chores.
Feeling hungry and sleepy, Heni decided to make a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Pei Ling then entered the room and allegedly splashed coffee on her, accusing the helper of stealing it.
She also instructed Heni to finish ironing all the clothes by 5am, failing which she would not be able to sleep or eat.
That same morning at about 4am, Pei Ling approached the helper who was still ironing and asked if the iron was “hot enough”.
She then placed the hot iron on Heni’s arm for several seconds, leaving a burn mark.
Hearing the constant shouting at the helper in the wee hours of the morning, a neighbour contacted the police at 5.46am, expressing suspicions that his neighbour may be ill-treating their maid.
Following the police’s arrival, Heni was conveyed to the hospital with various injuries on her head and body.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee asked for three to six weeks’ jail for Huat, nine to 12 months’ jail for Ai Tee and 20 to 22 months’ jail for Pei Ling.
He labelled the events which took place on 23 Jul 2020 as “extremely harrowing” for Heni.
Huat began his jail sentence on 7 Mar, while his wife and daughter will start theirs on 3 Apr.
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Featured image adapted from Markus Spikse on Pexels and cottonbro studio on Pexels.
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