Maid jailed for abusing elderly woman with dementia
She was hired as a domestic helper to look after the elderly grandmother who suffered from dementia.
Instead, Eis Atikah, 38, a maid from Indonesia, abused the elderly woman by pinching her arms and hitting her head.
She was jailed for five months yesterday after pleading guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt.
The maid started working for the family on May 12 last year, and part of her responsibilities included taking care of the elderly woman.
On June 12, Eis Atikah suddenly left home without informing anyone.
The next day, the grandson of the victim, who was also the employer of the maid, was cleaning up his grandmother when he noticed she had a bruise on her right inner forearm.
When he asked her about the bruise, she said she had knocked onto something the month before.
But he found it suspicious as she did not have any bruises on herself when he checked the week before.
As he was combing her hair, she suddenly complained that it was painful.
The grandson checked and noticed a bump on the left side of her head.
He then took her to hospital, where the grandmother was found to have multiple bruises on both forearms, her left knee and scalp.
The grandson lodged a police report.
Investigations found that from May 12 to June 12 last year, Eis Atikah had pinched and hit the woman.
SAME ROOM
They had shared a room in the unit.
On several occasions, the grandmother did not want to sleep even when the lights in the room were already off.
As Eis Atikah was tired, she would pinch her on both arms several times in frustration. She would also hit the grandmother on the head with her fists.
The victim never retaliated or complained.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Amanda Han urged the court to jail the accused for at least five months, saying there were multiple aggravating factors including the victim's vulnerability, the abuse of trust and the length of time across which the acts of abuse were committed.
The penalty for voluntarily causing hurt is a jail term for up to three years, or a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
As Eis Atikah committed the offences against a vulnerable victim, she could have been given a sentence up to 1½ times the maximum punishment for the offence.
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