Tan Hui Mei (35), who is currently pregnant, was sentenced to eight weeks in prison and fined S$3,200 as compensation or to serve an additional 16 days of continuous imprisonment if she is unable to pay the fine for harassing a domestic worker (PRT) Migrant origin Indonesia by hitting and slapping him, and forcing him to eat dirty cotton wool and hair from the toilet floor, Saturday (8/5/2021).
According to CNA, Tan, an administrator, pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally injuring his 24-year-old domestic worker with three other charges being considered for sentencing.
The unnamed victim started working for Tan in November 2018 for a salary of S$600 per month. The domestic workers are assigned as household chores, such as; cooking, taking care of Tan’s youngest daughter, and taking care of a toddler at the time.
Between November 2018 and March 2019, Tan had the victim eat a piece of dirty cotton on the dining table and watched as her domestic worker put it in her mouth.
During the same period, Tan also instructed his maid to eat the hair on the toilet floor and also watched her do it.
In December 2018, the victim called the police to report that Tan had slapped her several times because she was not happy with her work, but the victim decided to return to Tan’s house to continue working.
On the morning of March 30 2019, the victim bathed and fed toddler Tan before leaving the child in the room with Tan’s mother and second daughter.
When the toddler started crying, the victim did not pay attention because the victim thought Tan’s mother or another daughter would accompany the toddler.
Tan, who was sleeping in his own room, called the victim and asked why she didn’t take care of the toddler. When the victim tried to explain, Tan slapped both sides of her face and hit her forehead three times until it swelled up. The victim did not reply and continued to do his job.
The next night, Tan called the victim to her bedroom and said she couldn’t sleep because her leg hurt. Tan asked the victim to massage his feet, but due to exhaustion the victim fell asleep while doing so.
Tan pinched the victim’s arm and told her not to close her eyes. The victim felt pain and continued the massage.
The victim then told her sister what had happened, and her sister called the Domestic Workers Center (CDE) for help. The police went to Tan’s home, and the victim was taken to the hospital with bruises on his forehead and arms.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu said that when Tan was first investigated, Tan denied any wrongdoing. And the victim was unemployed for seven months from April 2019 until then found a new domestic job in December 2019.
Chu demanded at least 12 to 15 weeks in prison and a compensation order of at least S$3,200 for the victim’s pain and lost income.
Tan, who is in her last trimester of pregnancy, asked to speak directly to the judge. Tan said she knew she was wrong and asked for leniency saying she had three children and a fourth child she was carrying, as well as a sickly mother who needed to be reminded to take her medicine.
“I just want you to know, I know I was wrong, and my family needs me, and I also don’t want to give birth in prison and be separated from my children,” Tan said.
The judge said the norm of punishment for abuse of domestic workers is usually a prison sentence unless there are exceptional circumstances, which was not in this case.
The judge noted two acts of physical injury, as well as psychological harm on the charge of eating cotton and hair.
