Domestic worker jailed for making false report of abduction

SINGAPORE — A domestic worker was today (Feb 3) sentenced to two weeks’ jail by a district court for lodging a false police report that she had been abducted and confined in a room by three men.

Yati, 37, an Indonesian, committed the offence in the early hours of Jan 9.

The court heard that Yati had called Sengkang Neighbourhood Police Centre from a mobile phone, saying she felt giddy and had been dragged into a car by three men.

She also said she had been taken into a lift, and up to the 6th or 12th floor, and kept in a room that was dark with a small window.

Officers were then dispatched to investigate, and the mobile phone number was traced to two HDB blocks in Ang Mo Kio.

After an 18-hour manhunt to locate Yati, the police found her at another block in the estate.

She was then questioned, and later admitted to making a false police report.

She said she had done so as she was a runaway domestic worker, who hoped that the police would help her to return to the agency she came from.

The court also heard that Yati had been diagnosed with a disorder that made her unable to adjust and cope with work conditions, as well as with depression.

She could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to S$10,000. CHANNEL NEWSASIA