After a trial that spanned two years, 58-year-old Tan Lee Hoon has been found guilty of abusing two helpers at her Sentosa Cove home.
Convicted of seven charges of voluntarily causing hurt to Lizardo Joan Lozares and Jenefer Vegafria Arangote, her sentencing will be in January.
Tan has been acquitted of an eighth charge of hitting Lozares’ torso with a stick.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that Tan’s husband, Sim Guan Huat, employed Lozares in October 2015 and Arangote in August 2018.
Both helpers worked for the family at their home in 24 Paradise Island at Sentosa.
During the trial, Arangote testified that over her three months under Tan’s employment, she only got to sleep at 1pm or 2pm but had to wake up at 5pm or 6pm daily.
She inherited the arrangement for the helper before her, she added.
She shared her chores with up to three other helpers, including Lozares. They would have meals twice a day before sleeping, skipping the second one if they were too busy.
Her chores included cleaning the house, cooking, gardening, and massaging Tan daily until she fell asleep. Following that, Arangote would work through the night.
Tan often required massages at “unusual” times of the day due to her medical condition.
Tan’s abuse included pinching Arangote’s arm, stomach, chest and thigh, TODAY reported. She also struck Lozares’ head with her hand and kicked her chest, the latter occurring when Lozares was putting her socks and shoes on for her.
According to Arangote’s testimony, Tan pinched her during a massage in Oct 2018 before going to bed. She did this to express her unhappiness about how the helper did the massage.
The pinches left blue marks on her shoulders, which she snapped a picture of for evidence. Tan additionally pinched her several other times for numerous reasons.
The abuse emerged in October 2018 when another helper informed the Ministry of Manpower of the abuse.
Tan denied hurting both helpers during their employment.
District Judge Salina Ishak then denounced her as not being a credible witness since her evidence was inconsistent with the testimonies of other helpers in her household.
The helpers had testified that Tan abused Lozares on several occasions.
However, as Lozares’ account of Tan hitting her torso with a stick was not “clear and consistent”, she acquitted her of the eighth charge.
Tan’s mitigation and sentencing will be in January. Sim was sentenced to five weeks’ jail and fined S$8,000 for employing Ms Lozares illegally.
For voluntarily causing hurt, she faces a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.
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Featured image by MS News.
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