SINGAPORE — Lim Choon Hong and his wife, who are accused of not providing enough food for their former domestic worker Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, had allegedly provided the same diet of instant noodles and bread to a helper before her, the court heard today (Dec 16).

Mr Toh Ah Choon, owner of employment agency A C Toh Enterprises — from which Ms Gawidan, 40, had been employed — told the court that Lim had previously employed other foreign domestic workers (FDWs) from his agency.

Mr Toh said the first FDW whom Lim employed was an Indonesian who was subsequently “returned” to the agency. The maid had told Mr Toh that she was given a diet of bread and instant noodles and she also had to adhere to the odd working hours of sleeping in the day and working at night, Mr Toh said.

Thereafter, the family employed another helper — and she was the only one who managed to almost complete her two-year contact with the household, Mr Toh said. 

Lim is accused of flouting the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act for failing to provide Ms Gawidan with adequate food, which saw her weight plunge from 49kg to 29kg over 15 months. His wife Chong Sui Foon is alleged to have abetted the offence.

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital chief dietitian Gladys Wong also took the stand today as the prosecution’s expert witness. 

Ms Wong noted that the drop in Ms Gawidan’s Body Mass Index from 24.3 to 14.4 as a result of the weight loss was considered drastic.

She pointed out that based on Ms Gawidan’s weight and height of 1.42m, she would require an energy intake of about 1,700 calories each day to carry out her daily activities. But during her period of weight loss, Ms Gawidan would have been in deficit of 300 to 500 calories per day, she said.

Queried by the prosecution on the health impact of Ms Gawidan’s alleged diet of instant noodles and bread, Ms Wong noted that her body could have suffered from iron deficiency, which explained why she stopped having her period.