It’s difficult enough to contend with a nightmare in your sleep…
Let alone deal with a nightmare that stems from when you wake up till you sleep.
And while it’s an ordeal most of us, thankfully, do not relate to, it’s a serious situation faced by some;
Including this maid, who was reportedly abused on multiple occasions by her employers in her two months of service.
Though if there’s any consolation…
It’s that the supposed aggressors have since been charged in court.
How It All Started
According to Channel News Asia, Ms Kaur left her hometown in Punjab, India, to work as a foreign domestic helper here from 9 Nov 2016 to 31 Dec 2016. Her employers, both Singaporean permanent residents, resided with their two sons, then aged six and two.
Her daily chores involved cleaning and caring for the two children, as well as massaging them. She got up at 5:00 a.m. on weekdays and slept at 2:30 a.m. or 3:00 a.m., waking up later on weekends at 7:30 a.m.
Farha, a housewife, was reportedly routinely at home, while her husband, Tasleem, worked 12 hours a day on weekdays.
During the trial, Ms Kaur testified that Farha treated her “very badly”, with daily doses of reprimands and beatings. When she asked why she was receiving such treatment, Farha allegedly said:
“Because I’m the one who called for you to come here. I can do whatever I wish onto you.”
Ms Kaur added that she initially had a positive relationship with Tasleem, but it all changed when Farha accused him of having an affair with the maid.
On her first day of work, Ms Kaur was reportedly slapped and punched by Farha.
In December, she was punched in the eye by Tasleem and received two kicks to the waist. In the same month, Farha placed a pair of heated tongs on Ms Kaur’s right arm. A linear scar could be seen on the latter’s arm at the time of prosecution.
Farha also assaulted her multiple times on her arm with a showerhead, as Ms Kaur had purportedly not been managing the children well enough, or showering them well.
Ms Kaur was also hit by a broomstick after requesting for Farha to turn off the ceiling fan for a while, so that dust would not spread as she swept the living room. Farha, however, took this the wrong way.
“Why are you asking me this? Who are you in this house?” asked Farha.
Ms Kaur was then slapped and pushed to the floor, where she subsequently sustained hits to her calves. She was also grabbed by the neck and pushed against the wall.
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How It Eventually Ended
On the last day of December 2016, Ms Kaur brought a breakfast tray into the master bedroom for Tasleem, and Farha told her to situate it on the floor.
As Ms Kaur was leaning down, Farha reportedly kicked her twice on her lower back, causing the maid to fall. She then grabbed Ms Kaur’s hair and dragged her out of the room, and punched her nose.
The assault persisted, with Farha grabbing Ms Kaur’s hair again and pushing her, causing the maid to hit her head against the wall.
Ms Kaur was then slapped and thrown to the floor. At this point, Farha used a child’s toy, shaped like a stick, to beat the maid’s legs and threatened to assault her with it.
After the assault was over, Farhan asked Ms Kaur to iron some clothes, with the added condition that should Ms Kaur be unable to accomplish the chores (including ironing the bedsheets) in five minutes by the time the family got back from the park, Farha would hit Ms Kaur with the toy and hurl her out of the window.
Farha also said that should anyone asked what happened, she would tell them that “this girl’s mental state of mind was not good”.
At this point, Ms Kaur began fearing for her life in earnest.
When the family eventually vacated the flat, they locked the door and left Ms Kaur without the keys. The maid, frightened and under the impression that she would be killed, packed her suitcase and headed to the window in the hall, where she situated it on the window ledge.
Left with nowhere to go, she stood on the fourth-floor ledge, crying as she did so.
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It was then that a passing couple took notice of her pleas for help. They stopped her and called for the assistance of some workers, who were painting nearby.
Indian national Mani Manoharan then took Ms Kaur down with the help of his gondola. The maid revealed her situation and was later directed to the Good Shepherd Centre Crisis shelter.
Charged
In court, the couple denied the charges, claiming that the injuries seen on Ms Kaur were validated by “her uneven skin tone”. They also suggested that they were marks sustained while she was making a living back in India, or by accident.
They also claimed that Ms Kaur did poorly in her line of work, was illiterate, had a negative attitude and did not have integrity. They wanted to send her home, but Ms Kaur purportedly intended to accuse them of abuse so she could stay in Singapore.
According to Channel News Asia, Farha had an entire list of complaints against Ms Kaur, alleging that the maid could not write in any form of language, could not read the time, “was not hygienic and smelling of cow dung” and cared for the children poorly.
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Despite the couple’s protestations, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan eventually ruled the case in Ms Kaur’s favour, stating that the victim was a credible witness despite certain inconsistencies in her evidence. He also determined the prosecution to have established its case.
Farha, 39, was convicted of 10 counts of “voluntarily causing hurt to the maid”, while Tasleem was deemed guilty of two similar charges.
They will return to court on 21 August, for mitigation and sentencing.
For each charge of willingly causing hurt, they can be sentenced to a jail term of up to two years, a fine of up to $5,000 or both. As the victim was a domestic helper, the penalties can potentially increase to one-and-a-half times.
And while I stand on the fence on this one, or at least until the case has truly been resolved, I can only say that at present time, my sympathies go out to Ms Kaur.
I wish her luck in all her future endeavours, and that she will be able to, one day, put this entire incident behind her…
And live life anew.