SINGAPORE : Her husband, a former police officer, recently
had his sentenced doubled to 24 months last month for abusing their
then 23-year-old Indonesian maid.
Now it is her turn to face the music.
On Thursday, Chua Hwee Hwa, 37, was charged in a district court
with allegedly abusing the same maid at their Woodlands flat
between January and May 2006.
Chua, who was represented by former district judge Lee Teck Leng,
remained silent during the proceedings and did not enter a
plea.
Her husband, 37-year-old Lawrence Lim Hwang Ngin, was found guilty
of kicking the maid, hitting her on the head and rapping her
forehead with his knuckles on five occasions between January and
May 2006.
Normally, maid abuse cases are heard at the Subordinate Court but
Lim's case was taken to the High Court because he also faced
allegations of sexual assault on the maid who had been working for
his family since 2004. However, he was later acquitted of rape
because of inconsistencies in the latter's testimony.
Lim was sentenced to a year's jail in November 2008 on the other
five charges of physical abuse. But after an appeal by the
prosecution, the Court of Appeal - the highest court in the
Singapore justice system - upped the sentence to two years.
During the trial, the court heard of details of how Lim waged a
'psychological war' against the maid. Not only was she ordered her
to record her chores in a notebook hung around her neck, she was
also required to keep another notebook for recording her mistakes,
prosecutors said.
In the 114-page written judgment released last month following
Lim's new sentence, Justice V K Rajah said the Court of Appeal had
opted to take a firmer stand on bosses who terrorised their
domestic helpers.
He added: "Surely, it cannot be said that an abusive employer who
persistently mistreats and humiliates a maid and then later
physically injures her should be sentenced similarly with one who
ordinarily treats a maid well, but then on a solitary occasion
loses control of himself and then inflicts a similar injury?"
In the meantime, Chua's case will be heard at a pre-trial
conference on February 8. She could be jailed up to 18 months
and/or fined up to S$1,500 on each charge if found
guilty.
- TODAY/ms