SINGAPORE: Unhappy with her domestic helper’s performance, a woman assaulted the Myanmar national on multiple occasions, causing injuries including blunt trauma to the eye.
Hazel Phang Fong Yen’s acts of abuse came to light after her brother took the helper to hospital when his daughter saw that she was bleeding.
On June 24, Phang, 67, was sentenced to four months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to assaulting Man Sian Hoih Cing, 27.
The offender was also ordered to pay S$4,440 in compensation and will have to spend an additional four weeks behind bars should she fail to pay the amount.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng said that Phang had employed the helper, who started working at a Potong Pasir Housing Board flat in August 2022.
The following month, Phang asked Man Sian Hoih Cing to check the expiry date of a food item and perform another undisclosed task.
Phang became angry and slapped the helper on the cheek once when she found out that the younger woman had performed the other task but forgotten to check the expiry date.
On another occasion, in either September or October that year, Phang’s mother asked the helper for assistance, but the latter did not hear her.
Upset, Phang again slapped Man Sian Hoih Cing on the cheek once.
Separately, she had also asked the helper to clean some soap bottles in a bathroom. Phang was displeased with the method the victim used to perform the task – by spraying the bottles with water – and punched her in the eye.
The DPP said: “On another occasion... in October 2022, the victim was hanging bedsheets to dry on a pole.
“The accused scolded the victim for hanging the heavier sheets at the end of the pole. The accused scratched the victim’s neck and chest region, which started bleeding.”
Court documents stated that on Oct 15 that year, Phang became angry when she found out that Man Sian Hoih Cing had not watered some plants.
She then scratched the victim’s face at least twice, drawing blood.
Phang’s niece visited the flat the next day and saw that the victim was bleeding. She informed her father, who took the helper to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
The prosecution said that Man Sian Hoih Cing was later found to have suffered blunt trauma to one eye, a bruised face, as well as multiple abrasions on her face and chest.
She later moved in with Phang’s relatives, the court heard.
On Dec 27, 2022, staff from the Centre for Domestic Employees contacted the victim as part of a routine call to check on her well-being. She then told the unnamed staff member that Phang had hurt her.
The police were alerted, and Phang was arrested on Sept 9, 2025. Court documents did not disclose why the arrest took place nearly three years later.
For assaulting a domestic helper, an offender can be jailed for up to six years, fined up to $10,000, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
