Woman who abused maid, pulled off her headscarf in lift, given jail and ordered to pay compensation

The incident was recorded and submitted to the court as evidence.

The victim made a police report later that day and was brought for a medical check. She was found to have a 2cm bruise on her upper lip from an earlier incident three days before, in which Hasnah had slapped the victim’s face after the helper had accidentally placed a pack of tofu in the freezer.

Hasnah also hit the victim’s forehead with her mobile phone, pinched her thigh and pulled and twisted her ears in separate incidents in August 2024. These offences formed the remaining charges taken into consideration during sentencing.

Due to the incident, the victim remained unemployed from Aug 23, 2024, to date, the prosecution said.

Mr Koh told the court that no prospective employer had hired her because of her involvement in the case, as her work could have been disrupted if she had been called to testify.

The helper’s last-drawn salary was S$882.

Mr Koh urged the court to jail Hasnah for between four and six months and sought a compensation order of S$8,500, comprising S$1,000 for pain and suffering and compensation for her loss of earnings.

He said the victim had lost about S$18,500 in earnings after being unemployed for around 21 months. However, the prosecution sought only S$7,500 in compensation, citing a previous case in which an offender was not required to compensate a victim for the entire period of unemployment.

Hasnah’s lawyer, Mr Abdul Rahman, sought three months’ jail for his client, citing her remorse and asking for leniency.

The lawyer submitted references from Hasnah’s previous domestic helpers, with whom she had a good relationship, to show that Hasnah had been a good employer.

Mr Abdul Rahman added that his client had forked out about S$14,600 for the victim’s lodging and food during the period when she was unable to work, and asked for the court to order compensation of S$1,000 instead. However, Mr Koh argued that the victim’s food and lodging expenses were separate from her loss of earnings.

Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun imposed a compensation order of S$5,000, comprising S$1,000 for suffering and S$4,000 for the loss of salary.

For voluntarily causing hurt, a person can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.

As the offences were committed against a domestic worker under her employment, Hasnah was liable to twice the maximum punishment.