Maid forced to beat herself


SINGAPORE: Unhappy that fingerprints were found on her kitchen windows, a housewife forced her domestic worker to hit her own teeth with a meat pounder about 50 times as she wanted the maid to lose her teeth.

Yuni Dwi Lestari, 25, did as she was told on Feb 4 last year and could later feel that three teeth in her lower jaw had come loose.

But Singaporean Mun Sau Yeng was still not happy. So she took the mallet-like pounder and struck the maid’s teeth once, chipping a tooth.

This was just one of several acts of abuse that Mun, 40, subjected the maid to between June 2018 and February last year.

Just three days after the incident involving the meat pounder, Mun punched Yuni’s mouth about 10 times. As a result, the maid’s teeth came loose and she started bleeding from her lips.

Mun tormented Yuni yet again about four days later, punching the maid’s left cheek several times.

On Feb 15 last year, the Indonesian called the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE), which was set up in 2016 by the National Trades Union Congress to help distressed workers.A CDE representative alerted the police.

Yesterday, Mun pleaded guilty in a district court to three counts of maid abuse. Four other similar charges involving Yuni will be considered during sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhamad Imaduddien said that the maid started working in Mun’s Anchorvale Drive flat in Sengkang in April 2018. About seven months later, Mun flew into a rage after she found out that Yuni had eaten a can of sardines for lunch.

The court heard that she had earlier planned for the maid to eat the sardines for dinner.

Mun then punched Yuni on both cheeks several times before asking the maid to punch her own face 50 times. Yuni did as she was told and was made to count the punches.

As a result, she suffered bruises and swelling to both cheeks.

The DPP said: “The accused was of the view that the victim would remember the pain better if the victim punched herself.

“The accused did not take the victim to see a doctor as she was aware that what she did was wrong. In addition, she instructed the victim to tilt her head down for the rest of the day as she wanted to prevent her husband from seeing the victim’s injuries.”

On Feb 4 last year, Mun became angry after she spotted fingerprints on some kitchen windows. This led to the incident involving the meat pounder, the court heard. — The Straits Times/ANN

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