Employer in S’pore pours soy sauce & throws chilli at helper, gets 4 weeks’ jail

Woman in Singapore pours soy sauce & throws chilli at helper out of anger

Unhappy with her helper’s work, a woman in Singapore poured an entire bottle of soy sauce over her head, threw chilli at her, and twisted her ear.

42-year-old Singapore permanent resident Noorwahidah Johari started abusing her Indonesian helper, Putri Rizki Amelia on 9 Aug 2023 — five months after Noorwahidah’s husband hired her.

On Thursday (6 Mar), Noorwahidah was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to two counts of using criminal force and one count of voluntarily causing hurt.

Four other charges were taken into consideration for her sentencing. These related to Noorwahidah throwing a basket of rubbish, a cup of water, flour, and a shoe at her helper.

Woman frustrated that helper did not place soy sauce bottle in fridge

The abuse started in Aug 2023 when Noorwahidah threw a basket of torn waste paper at Ms Putri’s face, reported The Straits Times.

Noorwahidah subsequently committed other acts of abuse, including

• Swinging a shoe at Ms Putri
• Throwing a bowl of flour at Ms Putri

In the early hours of 28 Sept 2023, Noorwahidah confronted Ms Putri over why a bottle of soy sauce was not kept in the refrigerator.

Ms Putri responded by saying the bottle was too big to fit in the fridge.

Prior to the incident, Noorwahidah had reportedly reminded the helper to do so for the past 1.5 months but to no avail.

Frustrated, Noorwahidah uncapped the bottle of soy sauce and poured half its content over Ms Putri’s head.

Ms Putri then challenged her employer to empty the whole bottle, which Noorwahidah did.

In the same month, Noorwahidah asked Ms Putri to prepare some chilli and remove the seeds.

But when Ms Putri handed over the bowl of chilli, Noorwahidah rejected it by claiming she could still see some seeds.

Despite cleaning the chilli for a second time, Noorwahidah claimed seeds were still visible.

She got angry and threw the bowl of cut chillies in Ms Putri’s face, which came into contact with her eyes and caused irritation.

Source: Doidam10 on Canva

Woman’s abuse toward helper escalated

Noorwahidah’s abuse towards Ms Putri turned physical shortly after.

In Oct 2023, Noorwahidah grew upset after smelling an odour from her couch, reported CNA.

Ms Putri informed her employer that her daughter had urinated on the sofa that morning and that she had already cleaned it.

Infuriated, she grabbed Ms Putri’s left ear and twisted it, saying it was an expensive couch Ms Putri could not afford.

Noorwahidah had also threatened to make her pay S$2,000 if she reported the incidents to the Ministry of Manpower.

The 42-year-old was eventually charged in court in 2024.

The prosecution sought five to nine weeks’ jail for Noorwahidah due to her “pattern of abuse” on Ms Putri.

Defence lawyer Noelle Teoh told the court that Noorwahidah was remorseful and that she regretted her actions.

“This was a case where she had regrettably lost control of her temper. The incidents were out of character,” Ms Teoh said.

Also read: Domestic helper in S’pore shares detailed 17-hour work schedule with specific timings for every chore

Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com

Featured image by MS News.