Woman drops appeal against 8.5 years’ jail for acts of abuse that nearly killed low-IQ family friend

• Haslinda Ismail was jailed for eight and a half years in February for abusing a family friend who nearly died
• She had pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous means
• The mother-of-two then filed an appeal but has now withdrawn it

SINGAPORE — A woman who severely abused a family friend with a mild intellectual disability till she nearly died has dropped her appeal against her eight-and-a-half-year jail sentence, one month after filing the notice of appeal.

Haslinda Ismail’s lawyer, Mr Ashwin Ganapathy from IRB Law, told a district court on Thursday (April 1) that she decided to do so on his advice and after studying the sentencing judge’s grounds of decision.

The 34-year-old Singaporean, who has two young children, will begin serving her sentence on April 12. She remains out on bail till then.

She had committed what prosecutors described as “appalling” acts of abuse against Ms Nursadiwah Sanusi, 30, along with several family members, most of whom have been jailed. Her mother Hasmah Sulong’s case is still pending.

Haslinda pleaded guilty to three charges of voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.

The family had abused Ms Nursadiqah through increasingly grievous acts such as splashing hot water on her lower body and knocking out 10 of her teeth with a hammer.

They also chained her 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 hospital in a near-death state.

Ms Nursadiqah came to stay with the family in their Woodlands flat in early 2016, having been secondary school friends with Haslinda’s youngest brother. She had run away from home due to family problems.

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

Knowing Ms Nursadiqah had mental problems, Haslinda and her sister, Hasniza Ismail, 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. 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.

The family soon chained her up at night.

Haslinda also knocked out two of her upper teeth with a hammer, allegedly on her mother’s instructions, and scalded her with hot water.

On Hari Raya Haji in 2017, she then forced Ms Nursadiqah to eat from a packet of noodles she had urinated in.

The family chained her half-naked to a toilet bowl from late December 2017 onwards, till she could no longer control her bowels. She was rushed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on Jan 16, 2018 in a near-death state.

She suffered multiple burns over a third of her body, multiple deformities and damaged corneas.

She was examined at the Institute of Mental Health and 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.

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

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