Mother-of-three jailed for ill treating helper

SINGAPORE — She insulted her domestic helper by spitting on her and calling her offensive names, and physically hurt her by stepping on her foot. On one occasion, she even forcibly pulled off the Indonesian worker’s tudung (headscarf) with the help of her eight-year-old daughter.

In that period, the police were called in thrice by neighbours who heard the victim’s cries.

On Wednesday (June 28), Suriyati Matrawee, 42, an administrative clerk, was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail on two counts of using criminal force and one count of voluntarily causing hurt. Another three charges of using criminal force were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Rene Jeyaraj told the court that Ms Intan Atikah, 28, started working in Suriyati’s home from April 2015. For the one year she was there, Ms Intan was subjected to frequent abuse and humiliation by members of the household.

For instance, two months into the job, she was punched on the face and arms by Suriyati’s eight-year-old daughter. Suriyati did not do anything about it when the helper told her about this.

In September that year, a neighbour saw Ms Intan with visible bruises on her hands and face.

From December, Suriyati herself started abusing the worker, escalating the ill treatment over the next two months. The mother-of-three also withheld Ms Intan’s salary on two occasions but has since paid up.

The court was told that on the morning of Dec 12, Suriyati got angry at Ms Intan for not finishing her ironing chores on time and spat at her face five times. Despite her husband’s attempts to talk her out of treating the helper with such condescension, Suriyati did not stop.

After a neighbour heard the commotion and called the police, Suriyati hugged Ms Intan and begged her to tell the police that nothing had happened. Hoping that she could continue her work with the family and that her employer would change, Ms Intan relented and kept mum.

That same night, however, Suriyati got rough with her again, grabbing her shirt and pulling her. She also scolded Ms Intan and stepped on her left foot.

Again, Suriyati told Ms Intan not to breathe a word and the victim did not see a doctor about the bruising and swelling she sustained in the assault.

On Feb 27 last year, Suriyati flared up at Ms Intan again as she felt that the victim did not look after her children when they were at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery earlier that day. While they were in the car heading home, Suriyati tried to pull off Ms Intan’s tudung, helped by her daughter who also hit Ms Intan on the back.

After ripping off the tudung, Suriyati stepped on it and threw it away later.

About a week later, Suriyati called Ms Intan a “prostitute” for waking up 10 minutes late. This is even though she had been taking care of Suriyati’s mother throughout the night.

Unable to bear with the abuse any longer, Ms Intan tried to flee the house that day but was caught by Suriyati at the staircase outside the home.

A neighbour saw Ms Intan holding onto the staircase railing while Suriyati and a man tried to pull at her. After they carried her back into the home, the neighbour heard a loud bang and the victim crying loudly in the house.

The neighbour called the police and she was taken to the doctor, who found bruising over her right eye.

In meting out the sentence, the district judge said that Suriyati’s actions were both “foolish and deplorable”. The abuse was humiliating and degrading, and spitting at her was the “ultimate insult”.

On how she tried to cover up her actions when the police arrived, the judge said that Suriyati clearly knew she was wrong and “had the shameless audacity” to tell the victim not to report her to the police.

For each count of using criminal force, Suriyati could have been jailed up to three months, or fined up to S$1,500, or both. For voluntary causing hurt, she could have been jailed up to three years, or fined up to S$7,500, or both.