Selina Lum
Tue, Jun 03, 2008
The Straits Times
Husband and wife jailed for abusing maid
AN aircraft engineer was sentenced to four weeks' jail while his
homemaker wife was given six weeks for abusing their Indonesian
maid.
The couple, who had denied the allegations but were found guilty
after a seven-day trial, are appealing against their
convictions.
They have each been granted bail of $10,000 pending their appeal
hearing.
Lim Yi Khung, 42, who works for Singapore Airlines, was charged
with kicking 25-year-old Ms Ida Lestari Ningsih, on both sides of
her hips at the family Changi condominium on Feb 19 last year.
His Malaysian wife, Aileen Khaw Lay Hoon, 31, a former SIA
flight attendant, faces three charges of abusing the maid on
separate occasions between Feb 15 to Feb 27 last year.
She was accused of squeezing the maid's breast, hitting the
maid's eye, grabbing the maid's hair and hitting her head on the
floor.
The couple have three children, aged between eight months and
five years around the time of the offences.
The maid started working for the couple in March 2006, while
Khaw was expecting her third child, the court heard.
On Feb 27 last year, the maid ran away, with bruises on her
forehead, and sought help from the condominium manager, who called
the police.
The couple were charged and prosecutors accused them of
assaulting the maid because they were displeased with her work.
In court, the maid testified that Lim kicked her after she had
placed a pail, used for washing rags, in the kitchen sink, which
was forbidden in the household.
The maid said Khaw grabbed her breast after scolding her for
scratching her head while refilling an electric flask. The maid
said Khaw fisted her right eye after complaining that she was
falling asleep.
Khaw's final act of abuse, grabbing the maid's hair and knocking
her head on the floor, came after the housewife scolded her for
wringing out a wet handkerchief with one hand.
That was when the maid decided to run away, jumping out of the
window of the first-floor apartment.
Both husband and wife fought the maid's accusation, insisting
that the alleged assaults never took place.
The defence sought to portray Ms Ida as a scheming maid who made
up the accounts of abuse so that she could run away and avoid
paying $10 penalties for each mistake she made.
The couple were found guilty last month.