Helper Allegedly Hits Child While Fighting With Employer In Punggol Home, Both Given Police Warnings

Helper Allegedly Hits Child While Fighting Employee, Police Alerted

On 11 Sept 2022, a Burmese helper and her 28-year-old employer, Ms Hou, got into a scuffle over the feeding time of one of Hou’s children.

The fight quickly turned violent, and the helper allegedly hit a child and then reached for the cradle of Hou’s three-month-old son.

Hou reported the incident to the police.

On 17 Jan (Tuesday), the police gave her a conditional warning for intention to cause harm. They also served the helper with a warning, but she was not left with a criminal record.

Fight started from dispute over feeding time of child, employer accuses helper of hitting child

According to Shin Min Daily News, Hou and the helper were having an argument about the feeding time of Hou’s three-month-old son in their flat at Blk 638A Punggol Drive.

Hou reportedly called the helper’s agency to complain about the situation. The agency then contacted the helper, but she allegedly became worked up over the phone and started to frighten the children. As such, Hou snatched the helper’s phone away from her and asked her to move to the corridor outside their home.

According to Hou, the helper slapped her first before running back into the living room. Worried that the helper might hit her children, Hou pulled her hand back. This led to a violent scuffle.

Hou claimed that the helper hit her child, and thus, she punched and kicked the helper. She also mentioned that the helper had reached out to grab her three-month-old son’s cradle. Seeing this, Hou pulled the helper’s hair, resulting in her being scratched by the helper.

After the fight, Hou reported the incident to the police, and the helper ran away from home. She did however return later once things had calmed down.

Hou & her helper had tension between them

According to Hou, when she first hired her helper in June 2022, her helper claimed to be able to communicate in Chinese and English. Yet, she apparently could not understand simple words such as ‘eating’ and ‘bathing’. Hou thus asked her previous domestic helper to stay for two more months to teach her new helper.

However, Hou and the new helper continued to have communication issues. As a result, they had many arguments before this fight in Sep as well.

Police gave both parties stern warnings

According to AsiaOne, on 17 Jan (Tuesday), Hou was given a conditional warning by the police for intention to cause harm. If she were to re-offend within the next 12 months, she would face serious consequences.

The helper was also advised by the police. However, the incident did not leave her with a criminal record.

Since police investigations have concluded, Hou has hired a new domestic helper.

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News