Singaporean jailed for kicking RI maid

Singaporean jailed for kicking RI maid

SINGAPORE: A 37-year-old Singaporean man has been jailed for three months for kicking his Indonesian maid in the buttocks after she forgot to shut a window when it rained, a report said Saturday.

A few days after that incident, sales manager Loh Jin Thong again kicked 22-year-old Tri Sujati in the backside as she was bending over to pick up a towel, the Straits Times said.

Ng, who denied the assault and is appealing the conviction, also faces another charge of abusing an Indonesian maid, and a charge is also pending against his wife Ng Lay Kim who is accused of kicking Sujati.

Abuse of domestic helpers earns wide publicity in Singapore, where the government says the number of reported case has been falling since sentences were toughened four years ago.

From 157 abuse cases in 1997, the figure had dropped to 41 last year.

Sujati had been working for Ng for just two days when the attacks started.

There are 140,000 foreign maids officially accredited in Singapore, including more than 70,000 Filipinos, 55,000 Indonesians and 12,000 Sri Lankans. -- AFP