Incidents of cruelty against domestic workers in Singapore continue. A woman faces seven charges of abusing her Burmese domestic helper at her flat in Woodlands.
Among the abuse 33-year-old Suganthi Jayaraman dealt included heating up a metal ladle and placing it on the calf and bare back of 24-year-old helper Naw Mu De Paw, just because the employer did not like the taste of curry she cooked.
She had also used a metal pestle to hit Naw on her head for not frying vadais — meant for her family's provision shop — fast enough.
The Burmese endured abuse from July to October 2013, and was often afraid to tell anyone about the abuse for fear of Suganthi's wrath, The Straits Times reports.
The final straw was in September when Naw woke up late and failed to send Suganthi's daughter to school in the early morning — the helper had been working till 4am the night before. The employer confronted Naw and scolded her harshly after finding the girl still at home, before punching the helper in the face.
Naw eventually fled the flat on Oct 3 and made a police report.
In court, Suganthi pleaded guilty to three of her seven charges. She could be jailed for up to 10-and-a-half years and fined for causing hurt with a heated substance and three years in jail for the two other offences.
Photo: Balamurugan Natarajan via Flickr
Incidents of cruelty against domestic workers in Singapore continue. A woman faces seven charges of abusing her Burmese domestic helper at her flat in Woodlands.
Among the abuse 33-year-old Suganthi Jayaraman dealt included heating up a metal ladle and placing it on the calf and bare back of 24-year-old helper Naw Mu De Paw, just because the employer did not like the taste of curry she cooked.
She had also used a metal pestle to hit Naw on her head for not frying vadais — meant for her family's provision shop — fast enough.
The Burmese endured abuse from July to October 2013, and was often afraid to tell anyone about the abuse for fear of Suganthi's wrath, The Straits Times reports.
The final straw was in September when Naw woke up late and failed to send Suganthi's daughter to school in the early morning — the helper had been working till 4am the night before. The employer confronted Naw and scolded her harshly after finding the girl still at home, before punching the helper in the face.
Naw eventually fled the flat on Oct 3 and made a police report.
In court, Suganthi pleaded guilty to three of her seven charges. She could be jailed for up to 10-and-a-half years and fined for causing hurt with a heated substance and three years in jail for the two other offences.
Photo: Balamurugan Natarajan via Flickr