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Aircraft technician jailed 4 months for abusing maid, including hitting her head for trying to clear guest's plate

SINGAPORE – An aircraft technician who physically abused one of his two domestic workers on multiple occasions had created such an oppressive working environment that they both felt the need to escape.

The court heard that Yusni Yunos, pictured outside the State Courts on Thursday (Jan 23) was displeased with the performance of one of his domestic helpers, and intended to send her home.

The court heard that Yusni Yunos, pictured outside the State Courts on Thursday (Jan 23) was displeased with the performance of one of his domestic helpers, and intended to send her home.

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SINGAPORE – An aircraft technician who physically abused one of his two domestic workers on multiple occasions had created such an oppressive working environment that they both felt the need to escape.

The last straw for the two Indonesians, Ms Nenti Rusnianti, 27, and Ms Rani Nurhayati, 29, came on Aug 26, 2018 when they failed to inform Yusni Yunos, an employee of SIA Engineering Company, that they were going to sleep.

After scolding the pair, Yusni, 46, ordered Ms Nurhayati to step out of the room before he proceeded to abuse Ms Rusnianti for not answering his questions by pulling on her ear repeatedly until it became red.

It was not the first time that Ms Rusnianti had been subjected to Yusni’s physical abuse during her 19 month-long employment at his Punggol flat.

After this incident, and fearing for their safety, the domestic workers decided that they needed to escape immediately.

A few hours later, at 2am on Aug 27, they climbed out of the window of the ground floor unit and eventually made their way to Ms Nurhayati’s maid agency for help.

On Thursday (Jan 23), Yusni was sentenced in the State Courts to four months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to three charges of voluntarily causing hurt to Ms Rusnianti. Six similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

District Judge Sarah Tan also ordered the father of three young children to compensate Ms Rusnianti by paying her S$1,500.

‘FELT THAT SHE WAS INCOMPETENT’

Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee told the court that Yusni had hired Ms Rusnianti on Jan 13, 2017 to look after his children, and to take care of household chores.

“At the beginning of her employment, (Yusni) felt that the victim was slow in performing her duties,” said Mr Ee. “By the second month, he felt that she was incompetent in her work and was causing him problems.”

He added that Yusni would often scold Ms Rusnianti in Malay, and derided her by calling her stupid. According to court documents, Yusni had planned to send Ms Rusnianti back to Indonesia in May 2018, and had hired Ms Nurhayati in June that year as a replacement.

In one of the instances of abuse highlighted by Mr Ee in court, he said that Ms Rusnianti was sitting on the living room floor sometime in April 2017 when Yusni walked by and intentionally kicked her on her right knee.

Yusni said “sorry”, indicating that it was accidental even though it was later revealed that he intended to do that. Ms Rusnianti suffered from bruising on her knee, but did not seek medical attention.

In a separate incident, Yusni had invited some friends over for a meal to celebrate Hari Raya in June 2018.

During the meal, Ms Rusnianti wanted to clear a guest’s empty plate but was told by Yusni not to do so as the guest was not done.

Sometime later, Ms Rusnianti noticed that the same guest’s plate was empty again, and she asked if she could clear it – a request that angered Yusni.

After his guests had left, he ordered Ms Rusnianti to sit on the floor while he sat on a sofa to berate her.

When he was finished, he got up to leave. But as he walked past her, he hit her on the head which caused Ms Rusnianti to scream out in pain. Yusni later apologised to Ms Rusnianti, and said he lashed out because he was angry with her.

While the details were not read out in court, Yusni’s charge sheet also showed that he had once used a fork to hit Ms Rusnianti on her left thigh.

‘HE LOST SELF-CONTROL’

In pleading for a lighter sentence for his client, defence lawyer Luke Lee said that his client had lost his self-control due to his anger.

However, Mr Ee objected to this line of reasoning. He said that if that were the case, many maid abusers would be justified in losing self-control whenever they became upset.

“The court should hold that employers should exercise self-restraint whenever they are upset,” he said. “He had created an oppressive environment for the victim and the witness (Ms Nurhayati).”

District Judge Tan agreed. “Even if a maid was not performing well, the accused ought not to take things into his own hands,” she said. “Insofar as the accused said he lost control, he certainly has lost it quite a few times given the nine instances in the charges (against him).”

The judge allowed a request by Yusni to settle his personal affairs – mainly informing his employers that he has been sentenced to jail, and looking for someone to take care of his children. The man's wife works as a school teacher.

Yusni will begin serving his sentence on Feb 20. In the meantime, bail of S$10,000 was granted by the court.

Related topics

ircraft technician domestic helper abuse court crime

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