Woman jailed for abusing domestic helper who climbed down 15 storeys to escape
Nuur Audadi Yusoff, 31, physically and verbally abused her helper for four months in 2018.
PHOTO: The New Paper file
PUBLISHED ONNovember 19, 2020 12:38 AMByAdeline Tan
A woman repeatedly abused her maid until the Indonesian helper climbed down 15 storeys to escape.
Ms Sulis Setoywati, 24, climbed out onto the balcony before making the precarious descent floor by floor until she reached the ground. The climb took her all of early morning.
Yesterday, her former employer, Nuur Audadi Yusoff, 31, was jailed for 10 months and two weeks after having pleaded guilty in September to six counts of assault.
Nine other charges were taken into consideration.
Ms Sulis worked for Nuur from December 2017 to May 2018.
Slapped
Nuur slapped her, pulled and dragged her by the hair, and hit her with items such as a mobile phone, an umbrella and a broom.
Nuur was a Singtel employee attached to the Ministry of Manpower's contact centre as a customer service officer.
In January 2018, Nuur spat, scolded and slapped Ms Sulis after she did not apply ointment on Nuur's baby.
The following month, she dragged Ms Sulis by the hair from the bathroom for singing to her children.
And for a week in April, she slapped and pulled Ms Sulis' hair daily.
The last straw for Ms Sulis came at the end of April, after Nuur called her a prostitute and accused her of flirting with her husband, asking her if she wanted to seduce him.
She then beat Ms Sulis with a broom, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En.
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Ms Sulis decided to escape by going out onto the balcony and climbing down 15 storeys. She lodged a police report that afternoon.
DPP Chong asked for more than 10 months' jail for Nuur, arguing that she had inflicted both physical and psychological harm on Ms Sulis.
District Judge Ronald Gwee agreed, calling Nuur's cruel behaviour unacceptable.
He said how Ms Sulis risked her life by climbing down 15 storeys captured the hopeless situation that Nuur had placed the victim in.
Nuur has paid more than $7,000 in compensation to Ms Sulis.
This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.