9 months' jail for maid who slapped, hit and kicked employer's 2-year-old son

SINGAPORE — Angry that her employer's toddler son had smeared his faeces on his hands and toys, May Than Oo called him a "naughty boy" and slapped him several times.

The domestic worker then kicked the two-year-old and struck him with a towel and clothes hanger, leaving bruises on his back. His parents were not home at the time.

On Wednesday (March 9), the Myanmar national was sentenced to nine months' jail after pleading guilty to one count of ill-treating the boy, who cannot be named due to a court order to protect his identity.

The court heard that May Than Oo was tasked with performing household chores and caring for the victim and his two siblings in their Punggol home.

On June 15 last year, she was folding some clothes in the boy's bedroom. At around 8pm, she smelled something foul and saw that he had defecated in his diapers, with faeces smeared on his hands and toys.

She then lashed out in anger, slapping his face and back several times. He fell to the ground and burst into tears.

May Than Oo proceeded to retrieve a new diaper from a drawer and struck the boy with it multiple times, causing him to cry some more.

She then hit him with a towel and asked him to go to the bathroom. But when he stood up and walked towards the bed, she grew more incensed and hit him on the face with the towel, before using her hand to strike him again.

As the boy lay on the ground, she kicked him once. She soon took him to the toilet where she hit his back with a clothes hanger.

The abuse was partially captured by closed-circuit television cameras installed in the flat.

The boy's parents took him to KK Women's and Children's Hospital three days later, where doctors found two bruises on his back.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Dhiraj G Chainani told the court that the force of May Than Oo's assault was evident from the audible blows in the CCTV footage.

Under the Children and Young Persons Act, the maid could have been jailed for up to eight years or fined up to S$8,000, or punished with both.