Boss tells maid to kneel, then she kicks her
Employer, who goes on to hire and abuse another maid, ordered to undergo a year of psychiatric treatment in lieu of jail
Unable to tolerate any more abuse from her employer, the maid informed the police.
But this did not deter Kok Ai Ling, 37, from hiring a new maid and mistreating her as well.
Kok was ordered yesterday to undergo mandatory treatment (MTO) for a year after pleading guilty to four counts of voluntarily causing hurt to the two Indonesian maids.
An MTO is for offenders who suffer from psychiatric conditions. Those ordered to undergo MTO have to go for psychiatric treatment in lieu of jail time.
Three other charges for similar offences were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that the first maid, Ms Asriyatun, 26, started working for Kok on June 11, 2011, and was abused soon afterwards.
On Oct 17 that year, the young woman made some mistakes in her chores and was ordered to note them down on a piece of paper.
She was told to kneel in Kok's flat at Block 987A, Jurong West Street 93 and recite what she had written. Kok then kicked her several times on her right thigh.
Kok abused Ms Asriyatun again the next day, slapping her head a few times and causing it to hit a wall. This was to punish her for a mix-up over tissue paper.
Ms Asriyatun, who could not bear any more abuse, decided to call the police later that day when she was at Kok's mother's home.
She was taken to Alexandra Hospital and was found to be suffering from bruises on her thighs and chin.
The maid stopped working for the household on Nov 2, 2011, and Ms Sri Wachyuni, 24, replaced her about a month later.
When the new maid made some mistakes, they were again recorded on pieces of paper.
On Jan 5, 2012, Kok ordered her to recite them and flew into a rage when the younger woman could not read them out in English.
She hit the maid's cheeks, grabbed her hair and scolded her for 30 minutes before allowing her to leave.
A week later, when the maid accidentally spilt some water onto the floor, Kok became angry again and rained blows on her.
Ms Sri Wachyuni told Kok's tenant, who was living in the same Jurong West flat, about her ordeal later that day and the latter called the maid's agency about the matter.
TOLD TO LIE
When Kok found out that an agent was going to visit her home, she told the maid to lie, by claiming that her bruises were the result of a fall from a ladder.
The agent turned up the next day and made a police report after noticing the bruises.
In mitigation, the court heard that Kok suffers from major depression and a genetic skin disease. She also has an autistic six-year-old son and a baby daughter.
Kok has since compensated both maids, paying Ms Asriyatun $3,250 and Ms Sri Wachyuni $5,924.
For each count of maid abuse, she could have been jailed up to three years and fined up to $7,500.
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