Indonesian maid abused

Indonesian maid abused

SINGAPORE (DPA): A Singapore grandmother has been fined and sentenced to five months in jail for slapping and splashing hot water on her Indonesian maid, news reports said yesterday.

Margaret Wong, 61, reportedly burned the 21-year-old woman's chest and thigh by throwing a cup of hot water on her after waking her at 3 a.m. to feed Wong's cats in December 1995.

In the same month Wong slapped the maid for breaking a bowl, and subsequently splashed hot water on her back and arms on at least one other occasion.

"The courts must ensure that employers who have maids whom they consider inept do not vent their anger and frustration on them by physically abusing them in such a cruel manner as you have done," District Judge Yap Siew Yong told Wong during sentencing.

The judge sentenced Wong to two concurrent five-month jail terms for two counts of throwing hot water on the maid, and fined her 1,000 Singapore (US$710) dollars. Charges that Wong burned the victim with a hot iron and threw burned rice in her face were also taken into consideration.

The maid, who had left Wong on Jan. 10 last year, appeared in court during the sentencing. She told reporters she plans to return to her husband and three-year-old son in Bandung, Indonesia.