Woman, 58, found guilty of punching maid in face for working too slowly

SINGAPORE — Upset that her domestic worker was taking too long to prepare food to be taken to a food stall run by her friend, Arni Moani punched the woman in the face, bruising her eye.

Shocked and scared, the worker ran away without her belongings to the nearest police station, which was in Woodlands.

Arni claimed trial and denied that she had hit the worker, alleging that the woman's injuries were self-inflicted. The victim was not named in court documents.

At the conclusion of the trial on Thursday (Oct 13), District Judge Tan Jen Tse rejected the 58-year-old’s claims and found her guilty of one charge of voluntarily causing hurt.

She has four similar charges pending.

The court heard that on the morning of Nov 18 in 2020, Arni and her two domestic workers were cooking and packing food into plastic containers before they were to be sent to the food stall of Arni’s friend — which they did regularly.

Frustrated that the victim was not working fast enough, Arni scolded her before hitting her near her right eye. 

Arni’s other domestic worker, Ms Anis Sholekah, then stepped between the two women and told Arni that there was “no need to lay hands", the court heard.

The victim testified that the blow had been “painful” and feared that Arni would hit her, so she fled from the house. She flagged a taxi that took her to the nearest police station where she made a police report.

District Judge Tan said that despite the victim often being unable to answer questions in court — often replying that she did not know —  her actions of running away and making a police report supported her claim that Arni had hurt her.

“She was so distressed that she left her belongings behind,” District Judge Tan said.

“There was no reason for her to lie about this, and (the accused’s) claim that the injury was self-inflicted was speculatory.”

He added that Ms Anis testimony had been in line with that of the victim, adding that Ms Anis was a “witness of truth”.

“She held the accused in high regard and said she is like her own mother. She did not have any reason to tell lies,” District Judge Tan said, adding that Ms Anis could not have been mistaken about blocking Arni.

During the trial, Arni claimed that Ms Anis and the victim had been upset with her because she had planned to send them home, that the victim had wanted more money and that both of them had wanted to stay in Singapore.

However, District Judge Tan dismissed this as speculation.

He also rubbished her claims that the victim had self-inflicted her injuries.

Arni will return to court on Nov 15 for mitigation and sentencing. She is on bail of S$5,000.

For voluntarily causing hurt, she could be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or both.