Abuser who treated maid as ‘chattel’ jailed 15 months

SINGAPORE— For “cruel and inhumane” acts including scalding her domestic helper with a red-hot ladle because the curry cooked was not up to her standard, a 33-year-old minimart owner was sentenced to 15 months’ jail and ordered to compensate her victim S$4,900 today (June 25) by the State Courts.

District Judge Christopher Goh ordered Jayaraman Suganthi to compensate Ms Naw Mu Den Paw for the time the latter could not work due to ongoing investigations.

Suganthi’s offences were deliberate and malicious, and showed a profound lack of respect for the victim’s welfare, said DJ Goh, who noted that cases of maid abuse warrant a deterrent and retributive sentence. “You treated the victim more as chattel than a fellow human being,” he told Suganthi.

Suganthi’s offences were particularly aggravated by her “carelessness and lack of sympathy” in not taking Ms Naw for medical treatment, added the judge.

The abuse took place over four months between July and October 2013, and ended only after the victim ran away on Oct 3, he noted.

Suganthi pleaded guilty last month to three counts of voluntarily causing hurt, and had three similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing. The prosecution had pressed for a jail term of 12 to 16 months for her.

Besides placing the hot ladle on Ms Naw’s back and calf, Suganthi used a metal pestle on another occasion to hit the 24-year-old Myanmar national. This was because Ms Naw was not frying an Indian snack called vadai “fast enough”.

On a third occasion, Suganthi punched and bruised her victim’s left eye for failing to wake up at 6.30am to send her daughter to school — even though the maid had only completed her chores at 4am that day.

Despite the victim’s serious injuries, which included heavy bleeding from her head on one occasion, she was not given any medical help and was even told to wear long pants to cover up the injuries.

Suganthi also used household items such as a broom handle and kitchen scissors to assault Ms Naw on various occasions, the court heard.

Ms Naw lived in constant fear during the period of abuse and did not dare to inspect her wounds as Suganthi would scold her for it.

A medical examination revealed that she had suffered visible burns and injuries on her back, head, eyes and the back of her ears.

DJ Goh reiterated the gravity of foreign-worker abuse in sentencing Suganthi.

“There is no legitimate reason why an employer should inflict any injury on any of (his or her) employees, let alone workers who are at a disadvantage because they are working in a foreign country,” he said. “It will be a sad reflection of our society if we allow such acts to go unpunished.”

Suganthi, whose mother, husband and other relatives were present in court, sobbed loudly throughout the hearing today. She could have been jailed up to 10-and-a-half years and fined for causing hurt with a heated substance. She could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to S$7,500 for voluntarily causing hurt to her domestic helper.