Disagreeing with excessive penalty submission, judge puts off sentencing of maid

SINGAPORE — A judge in the district court on Monday (March 6) put off sentencing a foreign domestic worker who put a disabled child’s life at risk, after he disagreed with prosecutors who sought a “manifestly excessive” 18-month jail term.

District Judge Low Wee Ping said that the penalty jars with the range of punishment for previous cases involving intentional acts, and asked for a lawyer to assist the court with the legal principles for the sentencing of the worker, who was unrepresented when she pleaded guilty to the charge. 

He added that he could not, “in good conscience”, accept the prosecution’s submissions without hearing the views of a defence counsel.

At one point during the hearing, Justice Low asked the other lawyers present in the courtroom — waiting for their cases to be heard — whether they could represent the domestic helper, “instead of her being left undefended”. Lawyer Mahmood Gaznavi said that he would take up the case pro bono.

In appealing for legal aid, Mr Low said: “Let’s do justice, and dispense what we call mercy.”

Kusrini Caslan Arja, 36, an Indonesian, on Monday pleaded guilty to forcefully inserting her entire right hand into the mouth and throat of a four-year-old child to retrieve a 4cm-long suction cap that had fallen into his mouth. The bedridden boy, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, needed a suction machine to remove his phlegm and mucus; the cap was part of the device.

Kusrini’s actions, captured by a surveillance camera placed near the boy’s bed by his parents, caused him to bleed profusely. The suction cap remained stuck in his throat for 12 hours as she did not alert her employers.

The incident happened on Nov 23 last year. That morning, Kusrini, noticing that the boy had more phlegm and mucus than usual, decided to put the suction cap into his mouth because she felt it was a faster and more effective way to clean up his respiratory tract, even though she was taught to place the cap outside his nose and lips by the boy’s mother, who is a nurse.

When the cap fell into his mouth, Kusrini tried to fish it out with her finger, but could not. When she saw blood, she panicked and put her entire right hand in to retrieve it.

She did this for about eight minutes, causing more blood to ooze out of the mouth, while the boy’s head turned reddish-purplish. During this time, she sometimes stopped digging so she could pump oxygen into his mouth, because the machine showed that his oxygen levels were low.

The boy’s mother, who was viewing the camera footage on her mobile phone that morning to check on him, was concerned and alerted her husband, but Kusrini told her employers that there was some blood and everything was fine. The parents were unable to spot the blood stains because they were covered by a towel.

At about 9.15pm that day, the boy’s parents discovered that the pump container of the suction machine was filled with blood, and that his heart rate was high. Realising there was an object stuck inside his throat, the mother retrieved it with a pair of tweezers. The boy was admitted to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s high dependency unit and discharged two days later.

In asking for an 18-month jail term, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Teo Lu Jia said that the child was extremely vulnerable and could not seek help. She also said that Kusrini did not have any regard for the victim’s pain and suffering, and that the boy was “utterly at her mercy”.
Pleading for a lenient sentence, Kusrini said that she regretted her actions.

Mr Low told the court that he was “taken aback” by the proposed penalty, saying that this case was unlike those of other convicted foreign domestic workers, who had intentionally ill-treated children out of anger. 

He also said that Kusrini was not a trained nurse and the footage showed that she was desperately trying to retrieve the suction cap. “I’m sure she didn’t intend to do all those things ... I’m sure she was equally traumatised,” he added. 

However, DPP Teo argued that Kusrini knew she had to call the ambulance and her employers in an emergency, but chose to cover up her actions. She also cited a medical report that showed that the victim could have choked to death.

Before adjourning the case, which will be heard again on March 23, Mr Low said that perhaps “the system is at fault” for allowing domestic workers to perform medical care even though they are not trained to do so. 

“We employ domestic maids too generally ... employ them as car washers, plumbers, house painters, medical caregivers ... when we shouldn’t be. And when they do something wrong, we point our faults at them,” he said. 

“I hope there won’t come a day when we employ them as drivers or chauffeurs.”