Woman jailed for kicking maid's head

[ASEAN NOW News]

SINGAPORE: Just one day after employing a domestic helper, a woman jabbed the maid's head and punched her when she could not understand an instruction.

 

According to CNA, these acts of abuse continued over almost a year, culminating in a final, sustained assault when the woman repeatedly kicked the maid's head and tried to drag her out of the flat.

 

Bai Yihong, 34, was on Wednesday (May 25) jailed for eight months and six weeks after pleading guilty to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt and one charge of attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

Another four charges were considered for sentencing.

 

Bai, previously a Chinese language tutor, was unemployed and living with her mother, Hai Yulan, in a second-floor flat in Hougang at the time of the offences.

 

Hai, then 57, was in December last year fined S$3,000 for helping her daughter drag the victim out of the flat.

 

The second floor flat belonged to Bai's husband Chua Bee Seng, who normally stayed with his parents and sister in a flat on the fourth floor of the block.

 

Mr Chua died last year and their son, aged just over two, is now in the care of Bai's mother, the defence lawyer told the court.

 

The victim was employed by Mr Chua to clean, cook and care for the infant on Nov 17, 2019, when Bai was pregnant. Bai gave birth in December 2019.

 

The victim, a Myanmar national, was not fluent in Mandarin. She tried to communicate with Bai and Hai in Mandarin but could not understand them at times.

 

One such occasion took place on Nov 18, 2019, one day after the victim started working for the family.

Bai asked her maid to take a pear from the refrigerator, but the victim could not understand the Mandarin word used and was unsure which fruit to take.

 

Bai then used her finger to jab the victim's head and punched her shoulders a few times, causing pain.

 

In December 2019, angry that the victim used normal detergent instead of baby detergent to wash her son's blanket, Bai dragged the victim to the closet and broke her bra strap in the process.

 

Bai hit the victim's shoulders several times, jabbed her forehead and asked her in Mandarin "whether she had a brain", stated court documents.

 

During another incident around May to June 2020, Bai was angry as she believed the victim was handwashing her own clothes but machine-washing the family's clothes.

 

She grabbed the victim's shirt and punched her shoulders several times. The victim told Bai she wanted to stop working for her, and Bai told her to pack her bags.

 

Bai then pushed the victim in the storeroom, causing the maid to hit her head against the wall and suffer a bump on her head.

 

In October 2020, Bai saw the victim drop a water container on the floor. She questioned the maid, who denied dropping the container as she was fearful.

 

Bai then poked the victim on her chest, temple, and cheek, and slapped her face.

 

Bail also told the victim that the floor was "filled with pesticide and that her infant son might consume pesticide if the container had contact with the floor", stated court documents.

 

The day before the final assault, the victim had a stomachache and was told to stay in the fourth-floor flat as Bai was afraid her son might catch an illness from her.

 

Bai expected the victim to return to work the next day, on Nov 6, 2020. However, the victim told Mr Chua that she did not want to work for his family because Bai had hit her before.

 

That morning, Bai went to the fourth-floor flat to bring the victim back. The maid was sitting on the floor of the living room when she arrived. Mr Chua, his parents, Hai and the couple's infant son were also there.

 

Closed-circuit television cameras partially captured the sustained assault, which started when Bai demanded that the victim return to the second-floor flat. The victim refused and told Bai she did not want to work for her anymore.

 

Raising her voice, Bai scolded the victim. She accused the maid of theft and threatened to inform her agent so that she would be sent back to Myanmar.

 

The victim cried and refused to leave the flat, requesting that her agent fetch her.

 

At this point, Bai pulled the victim by her arm to drag her out of the flat. The victim resisted and Hai joined her daughter to pull her out of the house.

 

When the victim continued resisting and started to fend for herself, Bai kicked her stomach, slapped her shoulder, and kicked her in the head at least 11 times.

 

These kicks caused the victim's back to hit a wheelchair that was behind her. Bai continued to kick the victim as she lay on the floor wailing in pain.

 

Bai's mother-in-law eventually managed to restrain her, while Mr Chua raised his voice and told his wife to stop.

 

The victim lay on the ground crying and writhing for some time. Bai's blows had caused her lips to bleed onto her shirt, and Bai brought a bowl of water for the victim to clean her lips.

 

She then sat down next to the victim and said: "I ask you to calm down and then we will talk, if this thing (sic) blows up, you cannot go back to Myanmar, what will happen to your children, think about your children".

 

Bai continued asking the victim to calm down, telling her: "I guarantee that you will get nothing if you continue screaming and shouting" and "if you are like this, you will not get money and will not be able to see your children already".

 

She did this "knowing that the victim could be making a police report against her", stated court documents.

 

file photo

 

After the fracas, Bai instructed her husband to delete the CCTV footage as she knew it contained evidence of her kicking and hitting the victim.

 

Mr Chua pretended to comply with Bai's request, but later provided all the relevant footage to the police.

When the victim's agent arrived later that morning, Bai gave a fictitious account that the victim hit her first and fell, resulting in her injuries.

 

The agent left the flat with the victim, who made a police report that same day.

 

A clinical examination found that she had a lip laceration, facial contusion, wounds on her left arm and muscle strain in her back.

 

She is now fearful of loud noises and cries when she recalls the incident. She also has a scar over her lip and perceives herself to be disfigured, stated court documents.

 

The victim was unemployed for a month after the incident and had to pay two months' salary for her agent fees to secure a new employment contract.

 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh sought the sentence imposed, arguing that the abuse took place across multiple instances over a year.

 

By the time of the final assault, "the victim was already destabilised and especially vulnerable due to the previous incidents", said Ms Poh.

 

The prosecutor also noted that Bai was suffering a major depressive episode at the time of the offence and there was a contributory link as she was in an "irritable mood".

 

However, Bai's judgment was not severely impacted, said Ms Poh, citing an Institute of Mental Health report.

Defence lawyer Kevin Liew said that Bai was "fighting battles within herself" and that her actions were "not a case of pure malevolence".

 

He sought five months and four weeks' jail, highlighting that Bai was her infant son's only remaining immediate family member.

 

He also argued that Bai had shown genuine remorse by refusing bail and pleading guilty.

 

She also made restitution of S$5,580 to the victim for loss of income and pain suffered.

 

In sentencing, District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam stressed that Bai carried out a sustained assault on "essentially a helpless victim" in front of the entire household.

 

While the physical injury sustained by the victim was not severe, she suffered significant psychological harm, said the judge.

 

Those guilty of voluntarily causing hurt can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$5,000 or both.

 

Bai was liable for an enhanced penalty of twice the maximum punishment for committing the offence against a domestic worker while a member of the employer's household.

 

For attempting to obstruct the course of justice, she could have been jailed up to seven years, fined or both.