Single mum jailed for scalding helper
Woman out on bail pending appeal to High Court
GEORGE TOWN: A single mother of two was sentenced to three years’ jail by a magistrate’s court here for scalding her domestic helper.
Lim Lee Poh, 47, was found guilty of hurting Koay Ley Kheng, 26, in an apartment in Jalan Bukit Bendera, Air Itam, here three years ago.
After passing sentence yesterday, magistrate Sri Pracha Nanthini Balabedha granted Lim a stay of execution pending her appeal to the High Court, but doubled the bail from RM4,000 to RM8,000.
Lim’s offence under Section 324 of the Penal Code, carries a maximum jail term of 10 years, whipping, fine, or any two of these punishments.
Clad in a light blue long-sleeve shirt and grey pants, Lim appeared calm and showed no reaction when the magistrate read out the sentence.
In mitigation, Lim’s counsel R. Puran pleaded for his client to be fined and not jailed because Lim was supporting her two children.
DPP Nurul Izzah Shaharuddin requested for the maximum sentence and urged the judge to consider the seriousness of the offence.
“Koay is afraid that Lim will repeat the offence on someone else if she is not jailed.
“She (Koay) could not work as her hand and back were scalded by Lim,” she told the court.
The incident happened on Aug 20, 2014, and it was reported that Koay claimed Lim was her adoptive mother and that she was abused regularly.
She escaped from their house with the help of a friend and Penang Hospital medical officers lodged a police report when they found the injuries on her right hand, neck and back when she sought medical treatment.
Lim denied the allegations stating that Koay’s injuries were sustained after she slipped while holding a kettle of hot water in their house.