Ex-warden jailed for abusing maid

Ex-warden jailed for abusing maid

SINGAPORE: A former Singaporean prison warden, who is wheelchair-bound as she is severely overweight, has been jailed two weeks for physically abusing her Indonesian maid, the Straits Times reported on Tuesday.

Sa'adiah Mohamed Yusof, 44, admitted in a district court that she slapped and pinched Eli Siti Mariah Sukiman, 29, for not putting a pin in her hair the way she wanted, the report said. The abuse took place two years ago at Yusof's home.

In his mitigation plea, her defense lawyer, Ravinderpal Singh, said his client had heart and movement problems owing to her excessive weight, compounded by a bout of depression at the time of the incident.

Yusof was sentenced on Monday to two weeks in prison.

More than 140,000 domestic workers, most from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, work in Singapore, and stories of employers abusing them and retaliatory acts frequently make the headlines here. -- AFP