SINGAPORE — A pregnant foreign domestic worker was jailed four months on Monday (Aug 26), after she threatened her employer with a knife in order to get her passport and go home.

Indonesian national Poniyem, who is 41 and goes by one name, was married early this year before coming to Singapore to work as a domestic helper, the court heard.   

From April this year, she began working for the victim, whose identity cannot be revealed as her child is a minor protected under the law.

Poniyem was meant to work for her employer for two years, the court heard, but in May, she told her boss that she was pregnant and wanted to stop working in Singapore. She is now about six months into her pregnancy.

The child was Poniyem's husband's, the court heard.

The employer told Poniyem to wait until after Hari Raya Puasa on June 5 because the maid agency had said that it could not get a replacement worker until then. 

POURED OIL ON THE FLOOR

Poniyem then hatched a plot to obtain her passport by force and leave Singapore.

At about 1am on May 21, Poniyem poured oil on the floor outside her employer's room and knocked on the door, lying that she needed medication for a stomach ache. 

Her employer, believing her, came out of the room. The maid then pulled her employer by the hand onto the oily floor, causing the victim to slip and fall.  

She felt pain but did not seek medical attention, Deputy Public Prosecutor Foo Shi Hao said.

Poniyem then took a can of insecticide and sprayed it on her employer's face. In defence, the employer closed her eyes.

When she could open her eyes, the victim shouted at her eight-year-old daughter to call for the police.

While the girl took her mother's mobile phone to do so, Poniyem grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen and entered the room to stop the girl from calling the police.

She grabbed the girl's hair with one hand and pointed the scissors at her throat with the other, only letting go when her employer came to help her daughter. 

POINTED KNIFE AT EMPLOYER, ASKED FOR PASSPORT AND CASH

She put away the scissors but took out a knife from her pocket and pointed it at her employer, demanding for her passport and money so she could run away from Singapore.

Fearing for her daughter's safety and her own, the employer gave the maid her passport along with S$200.

The maid also took two phone sets belonging to her employer that were worth about S$1,900 in total, before pulling out the phone cable of the house.

She then fled the home, disposing of the knife outside and taking a taxi to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, where she was later arrested by the police.

The employer and her daughter did not suffer any visible injuries, and all the stolen items were recovered.

Poniyem pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge of theft and another of voluntarily causing hurt, with a third charge taken into consideration. 

For voluntarily causing hurt, she could have been jailed up to two years, fined a maximum of S$5,000, or both.

For theft-in-dwelling, she could have been jailed up to seven years and fined. CNA

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