Maids run to escape employer from hell

SINGAPORE - When you sign up to be a domestic helper, you would expect, among other things, to be treated with some dignity.

So imagine Ms Rinonos Analyn Almoite's humiliation when a mother yanked down her shorts and panties in front of the children, who began laughing.

The reason for her punishment: The woman, Wong Pui Kwan, was upset that Ms Rinonos had not cleaned her daughter's mouth properly after feeding her.

After enduring weeks of abuse, this was the last straw for the Filipino maid.

When the others were still asleep one morning in December 2011, she and the family's other maid, Ms Su Su Han, who is from Myanmar, took the opportunity to run away. They later reported the incidents of abuse to the police.

Yesterday, Wong, 28, a former property agent who is now jobless, was jailed for a year for abusing the two domestic workers.

She admitted to six charges of causing hurt, using criminal force, committing a rash act to endanger personal safety of the victim, and insulting the victim's modesty in her father's flat at Block 200B, Sengkang East Road.

Another seven charges, including two of voluntarily causing hurt to Ms Su, were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Both maids were employed by Wong's father. Ms Su, 34, joined the household in May 2011, and Ms Rinonos, 28, in September that year.

The court heard that the abuse by Wong began in October.

Investigations showed that the maids shared a room with Wong's three children aged between four and one.

The maids' daily routine was to wake up at 7am and go to bed at 2am.

Whenever they made mistakes like forgetting to switch off the lights, Wong would deduct money from their salaries. Since they started work, they had received only about $60 in allowance.

These are the charges that Wong pleaded guilty to:

NOVEMBER 2011

Sometime that month, Ms Rinonos was in the bedroom toilet preparing to shower Wong's two young daughters.

Wong then came to the toilet and used a cane to hit the victim's body and back several times without any reason.

That same month, Ms Rinonos was woken up by Wong, who heard her daughters crying.

Wong then ordered Ms Rinonos to go to the kitchen toilet, where she splashed cooking oil at her. Wong also told the maid, with oil still on her body and clothes, to sleep at the balcony instead.

On another occasion that month, Wong noticed that a blue plastic chair was out of place and Ms Rinonos admitted to accidentally kicking it.

When she heard that, Wong picked up the chair and threw it at Ms Rinonos.

NOV 30, 2011

Wong hit Ms Rinonos' head twice with a plastic tub after accusing her of not looking after her son when he vomited in a room.

On the same day, she grabbed Ms Rinonos' hair and cut off her hair from the top front part of her head.

She then threatened to cut off all the maid's hair if she made any more mistakes. Ms Rinonos had to sweep up her own hair from the floor and was crying as she did so.

DEC 5, 2011

The final straw came when Wong scolded Ms Rinonos for not cleaning her daughter's mouth properly.

Wong then pulled down the victim's shorts and panties to her feet. She warned her that she would do it again if she did not follow her instructions.

She only allowed Ms Rinonos to pull her clothes back up after she promised to follow Wong's instructions.

Ms Su witnessed this and heard the children laughing at Ms Rinonos.

RAN AWAY

The day after this incident, the two maids ran away and used a stranger's phone to call Ms Rinono's cousin, who advised them to take a taxi to Clementi police station where they filed a police report.

During mitigation, it was heard in court that Wong was stressed from her work. The divorcee also said that she was stressed as her ex-husband failed to sufficiently maintain the family financially.

In sentencing Wong, District Judge Salina Ishak said that there is a public interest element involved in such maid abuse cases so the sentence must be appropriate.

She highlighted that the domestic workers in this case are vulnerable victims who have suffered from prolonged abuse.

Ms Rinonos has since returned home while the Myanmar maid is working elsewhere.

Previous cases of maid abuse

MARCH 2014

Indonesian maid Yulianti was physically abused by her employers for eight months in 2012 and she lost 20kg, weighing just 44kg by the time she escaped their flat.

Her employers - married couple Nuraini Hassan and Muhamad Al-Hafiz Nordin, both 30 - pleaded guilty to a total of nine charges of voluntarily causing hurt to her.

SEPTEMBER 2013

Mr Tan Yu Jin and his wife, Madam Evelyn Phoon Wei Ling, allegedly abused their Filipino maid, Ms Gina Astrologio Vilog, in 2012.

Madam Phoon was accused of hitting the Filipino on the head and hands with a wooden cane in January and February and kicking the maid in the chest and knocking her on the head with a cordless phone on Feb 4, 2012.

That same day, Mr Tan, 36, was said to have hit the maid's head with a cane at their flat in Edgedale Plains.

The couple paid 32-year-old Ms Vilog $5,000 in composition - the practice of paying compensation instead of receiving a punishment.

AUGUST 2013

Employer Noryanti Abdul Rahim, 40, was jailed for three months on Aug 31 on two counts of maid abuse.

On Aug 8, 2012, she poked her Indonesian maid, Ms Tardem, all over her head and slapped her on both sides of the face.

She also hit her head and shoulder area before dragging her by her T-shirt towards the toilet.

AUGUST 2013

Chan Huey Fern was sentenced to 21 months' jail on Aug 7 after inflicting severe injuries on 25-year-old Indonesian Juwarti by punching and kicking her on several occasions in December 2010.

In mid-December, she punched Ms Juwarti in the eye after being unhappy with the way her maid took care of her two children, who were then aged one and three.

She also pushed Ms Juwarti's head against the toilet door frame and kicked her in the groin area, causing pain described by the maid as "unimaginable".

djenn@sph.com.sg

This article was published on April 23 in The New Paper.

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