IN four months, Indonesian maid Muriyah Buhiharti ran away from her employer four times because of the physical abuses from her boss.

She was slapped, punched, poked in the face with a pen and hit with a clothes hanger by housewife Elaine Tan Gek Kee between December 2005 and April 2006.

Each time Ms Muriyah Budiharti, 27, ran off from the Kew Drive house, she was counselled by the maid's agent and returned to her employer.

On the last two occasions, however, she left with her fellow maid working for 36-year-old Tan in March and April 12 last year.

After she was last abused by Tan, who punched and kicked her face and hit her with a metal stick, she and Ms Siti Asiyah left the house and sought the help of a passer-by at a bus stop along Upper East Coast Road.

During Tan's trial, the victim testified that Tan had slapped her, hit her on her head, shoulders and arms with a plastic clothes hanger, and poked her in the face with a pen at various times on April 11.

On April 12, she finally got Mr Chua Choo Leng to help her call the police. She was treated at Changi General Hospital.

Tan, who denied the charges, was convicted by District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim after an eight-day trial.

Her lawyer, Mr Gary Low, said the former bank officer has a permanent physical impairment on the left side of her body.

He said the mother of two has been the main care-giver of her young children after being black-listed from employing any maids.

Urging the court for the minimum sentence, counsel said no dangerous weapons were used and most of the injuries were in the form of bruises.

Tan will be sentenced on Oct 24.

She is out on $5,000 bail.