Singaporean couple jailed for ‘worst kind’ of maid abuse
A Singaporean couple was on Monday jailed for abusing a Myanmar maid ater the pair force-fed her with a funnel, made her eat her own vomit and threatened to kill her family if she reported the maltreatment.
In a case described by Singapore prosecutors as “arguably one of the worst of its kind” in the city-state, the married couple − who were sentenced two years ago over the abuse of another maid − beat and kicked their helper and made her clean the house in her underwear.
Moe Moe Than, 32, was also given litle food, limited use of the toilet and faced threats that her parents in Myanmar would be killed if she reported the abuse, court documents showed.
District Judge Olivia Low on Monday sentenced the woman, Chia Yun Ling, to 47 months in prison and ordered her to pay a fine. Her husband, Tay Wee Kiat, a former information technology manager, was jailed for 24 months.
They were also ordered to pay compensation to the maid.
The sentence however drew angry reactions online, with readers demanding a harsher punishment.
“Pathetic sentences. Should each be doing 10 years and have their kids taken off them,” reader Rich Mackereth wrote on the Facebook page of state broadcaster Channel Newsasia.
“Such deplorable human beings!! They need also to be whipped and caned,” wrote reader Andrew Siah with the symbol of an angry emoji.
The couple’s mistreatment of Than during her employment of nearly a year in 2012 was detailed in more than 20 charges.
“In the present case, the accused persons had systematically and persistently abused Moe Moe Than both physically and psychologically throughout the period of her employment,” state prosecutors told the court, also noting a lack of remorse from the couple.
One charge said Chia, a former senior sales manager, force-fed the maid a mixture of rice and sugar through a funnel ater the helper told her she did not have enough food to eat.
This caused the victim to choke and she ran to the toilet to throw up, the charge said.