Maid who added disinfectant into cereal drink jailed 5 months
A Myanmar domestic worker, who was allegedly nagged by her employer's mother-in-law every day, decided she had enough and wanted to leave.
But instead of asking to be sent home, she mixed Dettol disinfectant into a cup of cereal drink made by the 65-year-old, a district court heard.
Yesterday, Mya Thet Wai, 24, was sentenced to five months' jail after she pleaded guilty to causing Madam Toh Sew Keok to drink the mixture at her employer's home in Tampines on April 6 this year.
The maid had been working in the household since Jan 10 this year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En said that Madam Toh made a cereal drink for herself in the kitchen that morning and covered the cup with a lid.
She then went to the living room to feed her seven-month-old grandchild.
As she was feeding the baby, the maid took a small cup of Dettol disinfectant liquid and placed it on the kitchen table.
After getting a pillow for the baby, she returned to the kitchen and poured the disinfectant into Madam Toh's cereal drink and put the lid back.
Madam Toh then asked the maid to tend to the baby while she went to the kitchen to eat some bread. When she took the cereal drink, she immediately spat it out and rinsed her mouth repeatedly.
She called her daughter-in-law to tell her that someone had added something into her cereal drink. Madam Toh confronted the maid who denied it.
When the maid's employer later returned, closed-circuit television footage was viewed and the police were called.
The maid then admitted adding the disinfectant into the drink, saying she did not want to continue working as the victim "nagged at her frequently".
Pleading for leniency, Mya said in mitigation that she could not take the victim's daily nagging.
She had hoped that by committing the act, her employer would send her back to Myanmar.
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