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SINGAPORE: A year after the employment of his new maid, a man became unhappy with her job and began to physically abuse her, repeatedly slapping her, splashing hot water on her and throwing a full water bottle at her.
The abuse culminated when the 24-year-old Myanmar citizen attempted to jump from the ninth-floor corridor, prosecutors said.
On Thursday (November 26), 48-year-old James Ong Teck Keong was found guilty of five counts, most of harming a domestic worker. He was acquitted of a sixth count of striking her with a rolled newspaper.
Ong had contested the charges at trial, but the judge found him guilty of most of the charges after reviewing the evidence, including his admissions in police statements.
The victim was employed by Ong and his wife in August 2014 as a domestic worker, and the abuse began in late 2015.
He slapped her on three occasions between the end of 2015 and 2016, when he was unhappy with her attitude or her work. He also threw a full water bottle at her shortly after the second slapping incident.
In late 2016, they had a dispute over the temperature of the water used to make milk for Ong’s son.
Ong splashed hot water on the maid’s waist and left arm, causing a burn that left her unable to shower or sleep properly for two weeks.
She was unable to call her mother because her employers had closed her phone, prosecutors said, so she sought the help of another domestic worker who lived on the same block to call home.
On July 13, 2017, Ong returned home angry that his wife had been calling him repeatedly, saying that the victim took a package of powdered milk without permission.
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Ong had allegedly used a rolled up newspaper to beat his wife, son and maid and scolded them. However, this event was disputed at trial. The prosecution claimed that the scolding was so strong that the other maid two floors up heard it, but Ong’s wife said the beatings were done in jest.
The next morning, after Ong’s wife lectured her, the victim attempted suicide by jumping from the ninth floor hallway. Ong’s wife, along with the other servant, restrained the victim.
The abuse was discovered when police investigated the suicide attempt.
JUDGE’S REASONS FOR SENTENCE
Explaining her reasons for convicting Ong on five of the six charges, the judge said she took into account that the victim had left Singapore in 2018 and did not return to testify.
Therefore, the prosecution relied mainly on police statements and Ong’s testimony in court to prove his case that he had been abusing the victim since late 2015.
The defense accepted that some incidents did occur, but said its client did not commit the crimes noted in the charges, adding that the incidents involving the hot water and the full water bottle were accidents.
They argued that one of the slaps was “an accident” while the others were “just friendly hits” to get their attention.
The judge pointed out inconsistencies in Ong’s explanations about the different incidents given in his police statements, during interrogation and cross-examination.
For example, for a slapping incident, Ong initially admitted that he had waved his hand “in the sky” and slapped the maid. However, she testified in court that she had waved her hand because she no longer wanted to listen to her and thought that she had accidentally hit or touched her face.
During interrogation, she agreed that she was about 6 cm away from the maid as the kitchen was very small and she admitted that she knew she was definitely going to hit her.
THE HOT WATER INCIDENT
The maid had maintained in her written statements that Ong had deliberately poured or threw the hot water on her.
Ong said this was an accident, but gave several conflicting accounts of how it happened, the judge said. These include: accidentally splashing water on her when the maid threw her arms around and struck her hand; pour it on her when she shook the bottle; and accidentally spilling it on her when she showed him it was hot.
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“In my opinion, Mr. Ong’s hesitancy in his accounts and his inability to provide a coherent position on how he had accidentally splashed water on (the victim) reinforces the prosecution’s case that it was not an accident after all “said the judge.
“This was reinforced by Mr Ong’s agreement in court that he knew there was a high probability that the water would come out of the kettle and splash on the woman.”
On why he acquitted Ong of the newspaper charge, the judge said that Ong had consistently maintained in his statements and evidence in court that he had used the newspaper to beat the maid, his wife and their son “lightly” and that they would smile and drink is a joke.
Ong’s wife also corroborated his evidence by giving a similar account. The judge said that the prosecution had not proven this charge beyond a reasonable doubt and acquitted him.
The parties will return at a later date for mitigation and sentencing.
