• Haslinda Ismail, 34, is the fifth family member to be sentenced over the abuse
• The family grievously abused Nursadiqah Sanusi over more than a year 
• Among other acts, Haslinda scalded her with hot water, fractured her toe by twisting it with pliers, and urinated in her food
• Nursadiqah was rushed to hospital in January 2018 and was expected to die

SINGAPORE — After finding out that a family friend had performed a sex act on her husband, Haslinda Ismail started abusing the woman, who has a mild intellectual disability.

Haslinda and her family members then began escalating their abuse against Nursadiqah Sanusi, such as by splashing hot water on her lower body and knocking out 10 of her teeth with a hammer.

Haslinda even urinated into a packet of food and forced the 30-year-old victim to eat it.

The family chained Nursadiqah up in their Woodlands flat for weeks to prevent her from running away, causing her condition to become so dire that she was rushed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in a near-death state.

They later lied to the police that Nursadiqah was already injured when she turned up at their home.

On Wednesday (Feb 3), Haslinda was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years’ jail. She is the fifth family member to be dealt with over the case, which has garnered heated discussion online since her husband was jailed a few months ago.

The 34-year-old Singaporean woman pleaded guilty last month to three charges of voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to Nursadiqah by dangerous weapons or means. 

Another 14 charges, including causing hurt with poison and wrongful confinement, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

District Judge Toh Yun Cheong reduced the sentence by six months as Haslinda previously spent about four months in remand. She will begin serving her sentence on March 1.

Haslinda’s older sister, Hasniza Ismail, was jailed three years on Monday and ordered to pay S$1,000 in compensation. Their mother Hasmah Sulong faces the most serious charges and her case is pending.

Haslinda’s husband, Egyptian national Hany Aboubakr Abdelkarim Abdelfattah, 33, was jailed for three weeks late last year. She had forced him to slap Nursadiqah twice.

Two of Haslinda’s brothers — Muhammad Iski Ismail, 29, and Muhammad Iskandar Ismail, 32 — were also jailed for lying to the police and assaulting Nursadiqah.

Prosecutors called it an “appalling case of abuse, cruelty and vileness”, urging the court to sentence Haslinda to at least nine-and-a-half years’ jail.

They did not seek a compensation order as she does not have the financial means to pay, having been certified medically unfit for work and jobless for more than a year. Her family was also on social assistance.

Under the law, a compensation order should only be made when an offender has the means to pay within a reasonable time, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said in a statement on the case on Wednesday.

Prosecutors did not seek compensation for Nursadiqah’s medical expenses as they were largely covered by MediFund, a Government endowment fund for lower-income Singaporeans, and were not caused by Hasniza’s actions.

Hasniza had to pay compensation for the injuries she was responsible for. The prosecution sought the sum of S$1,000 which was in line with similar cases in the past, said the AGC.

HOW IT BEGAN

The court heard that Nursadiqah was secondary school friends with Haslinda’s youngest brother, Muhammad Isafi Ismail, and soon grew close to the family.

She periodically stayed at their flat after running away from home due to family problems. She moved in with them for good in early 2016, working at the McDonald’s outlet at Woodlands Mart.

She did not pay rent, giving Hasmah S$150 a month for laundry and sleeping on a mat in the living room.

Knowing Nursadiqah had mental problems, Haslinda and Hasniza discussed how to make her their slave, punishing her by slapping her on the face and hitting her.

Around mid-2016, Haslinda accused her of performing oral sex on her husband Hany. From then on, the family members engaged in various acts of abuse such as using pliers to twist her toes, with Haslinda fracturing one of them. 

While Haslinda and Hasniza got medication and bandaged the injured toe with a sanitary pad, this was not enough, leaving it permanently deformed.

CHAINED HER UP, SCALDED HER

In June 2016, Nursadiqah’s father went to her McDonald’s workplace and pleaded for her to come home. She secretly packed some of her clothes and tried to escape, but Haslinda later found her at work and demanded some outstanding laundry fees.

Haslinda was unrelenting in her demands, asking for Nursadiqah’s mobile phone and demanding that she return to their flat. She also demanded that Nursadiqah hand over her bank card, passport and National Identity Registration Card.

Nursadiqah no longer went back to McDonald’s to work and had to do their household chores without pay.

Soon, Haslinda alleged that Nursadiqah had stolen from her. On Hasmah’s request, Hasniza bought a metal chain used to secure bicycles to chain Nursadiqah up at night, tying her hands or legs to a baby swing in the living room.

They later chained her to a metal plate affixed to a wall outside Hasniza’s room.

During the holy month of Ramadan in 2017, Hasmah complained to Haslinda that Nursadiqah was very dirty and messy. On her mother’s instructions, Haslinda then knocked out two of Nursadiqah’s upper teeth with a hammer.

Haslinda also scalded her with hot water and her wounds were left unattended. Hasniza later bought cream and applied it to the wounds.

Later on Hari Raya Haji, Haslinda made Nursadiqah follow her to her new flat to help with the festive preparations. Haslinda did not allow her to use the toilet or sleep that night, causing her to urinate on the kitchen floor.

Angry with this, Haslinda struck her with a broomstick, clothes hanger and towel. She then tied Nursadiqah’s hands and legs up with cable ties and demanded that she continue standing in the kitchen in her soiled trousers, only releasing her after the other family members left.

Hasmah had brought two packets of noodles over. Haslinda urinated in one and forced Nursadiqah to eat from the soiled packet.

The family also took Nursadiqah to Malaysia on a few occasions to clean their flat in Johor Baru, making her wear a headscarf on one occasion to conceal injuries that Haslinda inflicted on her cheek there.

HAD MULTIPLE BURNS OVER HER BODY

Haslinda only stopped abusing Nursadiqah in late 2017 when Hasniza stepped in. The two sisters quarrelled and Haslinda swore that she would never step into the Woodlands flat again.

Nevertheless, the rest of the family continued abusing Nursadiqah, chaining her half-naked to the toilet bowl from late December 2017 onwards when she could no longer control her bowels.

She sat on her own faeces and urine and ate off the bathroom floor, with a stench emanating from her.

She was soon too weak to get up or eat anything. There was a smelly discharge coming from her vaginal area and dark liquid flowed from her mouth and nose.

But the family continued abusing her till the morning of Jan 16, 2018, when her condition grew so dire that Hasniza called for an ambulance. Nursadiqah was rushed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in a near-death state.

She required eight hours of resuscitation and was transferred to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in light of her severe burn injuries.

On admission, she was dangerously ill and was expected to die over the next two days. She had lost 10 teeth, suffered multiple deformities and her corneas were damaged.

She also had multiple burns over a third of her body. She was admitted to intensive care at SGH for about two weeks and discharged after more than three months.

Nursadiqah was examined at the Institute of Mental Health and she was found to have mild intellectual disability. Most of her functioning was also in the extremely low range when she was given an intelligence quotient assessment.

A psychologist found that her limited coping skills in dealing with her fears and helplessness, her poor expressive ability, and her lowered cognitive functioning made it difficult for her to protect herself or to seek help, trapping her in a cycle of abuse.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, Haslinda could have been jailed up to 15 years, or fined. 

Both offences attract caning but women cannot be caned under the law.