A 73-year-old mother in Singapore, Hasmah Sulong, was sentenced to 17 years and 10 months in jail after treating an intellectually disabled woman like a ‘slave’ by chaining and torturing her for over a year.
The victim reportedly suffered various forms of abuse, including having her toes twisted, teeth knocked out, being chained to the toilet, and splashed with hot water.
Her daughters and son were also jailed for being involved in the abuse.
According to Channel News Asia (CNA), the victim had run away from home and sought refuge with Hasmah’s family.
However, she was turned into a ‘slave’ after she had enraged one of the Hasmah’s daughters.
For more than a year and a half from mid-2016 until 2018, Hasmah and her two daughters, Hasniza and Haslinda Ismail, tortured the victim, who was 27 years old at the time of the abuse.
Source: Theen Moy on Flickr, for illustration purposes only.
Haslinda claimed that the victim had tried to make a move on her husband.
In retaliation, they broke the victim’s toe, knocked out her teeth, and splashed boiled water on her.
Despite the victim suffering burns, blisters, and being unable to control her bladder, the family did not take her to a doctor. Instead, they applied Dettol and cream to her wounds.
Accusing the victim of stealing, Hasmah chained her up. She also had one of her sons attach a metal plate with a hook to a wall to keep her restrained.
The victim was forced to stay chained between eight and 12 hours every day. She also had to clean the house every morning before she could eat breakfast.
She was once taken to clean a house in Malaysia, where Haslinda splashed hot oil on her.
Later on, the victim was chained to the toilet bowl because she couldn’t control her bowels.
In January 2018, she started oozing dark liquid from her mouth and nose, and her wounds started oozing pus.
She was finally hospitalised in a seriously ill condition and was expected to die the next day due to pneumonia and sepsis from the wounds. However, she managed to be revived after an 8-hour resuscitation in the Emergency Department.
The victim was discharged from the hospital after over three months in the hospital but continues to suffer permanent injuries, including the loss of 10 teeth, lasting vision problems in her right eye, and a deformed ear.
The Institute of Mental Health also revealed that she was diagnosed with mild intellectual disability, which affected her ability to seek help.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong noted that the victim appeared passive and did not resist when the women twisted her toes. He added that even a child might have put up more resistance.
Source: zeevveez on Flickr, for illustration purposes only.
Mr Chong, along with prosecutors Mr Han Ming Kuang and Ms Grace Chua, requested a sentence of 17 to 19 years’ jail term for Hasmah.
Hasmah admitted to five charges related to the abuse. Several other charges were considered.
Her defence lawyer, Amarick Gill, asked for a 15-year sentence instead, urging the court to consider his client’s age and her plea of guilt.
He pointed out that Hasmah admitting guilt helped the traumatised victim by avoiding a tough cross-examination. The plea also saved court time and stopped 49 prosecution witnesses from having to testify.
The lawyer was aware of the serious harm suffered by the victim from Hasmah and her family. He made it clear that his plea for leniency was not meant to downplay the victim’s experience or investigate the details of what caused the conflict.
He told the judge that sentencing Hasmah would result in closure for her, her family, and the victim.
Due to Hasmah’s unemployment and apparent lack of financial resources, the prosecution did not seek a compensation order.
Justice Valerie Thean described the offences as “extremely serious” and said she would have imposed consecutive sentences if her age wasn’t taken into account, making her jail term exceed 20 years.
Hasmah was allowed to see her family before being taken to jail.
Her prison term is the longest among all her family members involved.
In 2021, Haslinda faced a sentence of eight and a half years for her role in the abuse, while Hasniza was sentenced to three years.
Their brothers, Muhammad Iskandar Ismail and Muhammad Iski Ismail, received sentences of eight months and approximately three months, respectively, due to their lesser involvement in the abuse.
Also read: Jail for stepfather in S’pore who abused 11-year-old girl to death, mother will also serve time
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Featured image by MS News.
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