Starved, battered, dead... Nine months of maid abuse
went unnoticed
By Karen Ho & Elena Chong
Maid abuse: What's to be done?
Her clothes covered the bruises, cuts and lacerations on her But if
anyone had taken a closer look at Miss Muawanatul Chasanah when she
was alive, they would have seen the sores and open wounds on her
lips. Lift her shoulder-length hair from her face and what stares
back is a mass of black, brown and blue bruises.
Multiple injuries are seen on the back and neck of Miss Muawanatul.
Her left ear had been battered into a 'cauliflower' - a feature
found on boxers rather than a 19-year-old girl. Post-mortem reports
recorded the rotan marks crisscrossing her buttocks and limbs, and
sores, some yet to be healed, which dotted her back - the result of
jabs with a hammer's handle. Her back and neck were discoloured -
evidence of scalding. Her final indignity: She was found with vomit
on her T-shirt with a distended stomach that could barely fit into
the blue jeans which were being held up by a string.
But while this treatment was meted out to her, for nine months, at
Ng Hua Chye's flat in Chai Chee and in his sister's home in Bedok
Reservoir, neighbours interviewed said they were not aware of
anything amiss - save one.
Ng's next-door neighbour, a 69-year-old retiree who wanted to be
known only as Mr Ng, said he had bought bread for one of Ng's
earlier maids. She would peer through the flat's window shutters,
saying that she was hungry, he said.
'She was given only a few packets of Maggi mee to eat. She said she
couldn't stomach it, so she would ask me if I could buy her some
bread.'
He had bought bread for the maid about seven or eight times. He
counted four maids during Ng's stay over the past year or so, all
of whom stayed for only a couple of months. He described Ng as
'very fierce'.
'He was always scolding the maid, but I don't know what he was
saying.'
He said he did not recall ever seeing maid No 5, Miss Muawanatul,
and assumed that she must have spent most of her time in the Bedok
Reservoir flat.
Over at Bedok Reservoir, of the five other units on the same floor
as Ng's sister's flat, only one neighbour remembered the maid. The
31-year-old contractor, who wanted to be known only as Mr Neo, said
the family kept very much to themselves. He said the maid seldom
left the flat.
'I saw her only a few times in the mornings or in the evenings
watering plants outside the flat.'
Miss Muawanatul was very thin, and always looked tired and unhappy,
he said.
'She was 19 but she looked like she was in her 40s.'
There was at least one person she had confided in. The court heard
that she had told another Indonesian maid that her employers did
not give her enough food to eat, which was why she resorted to
stealing food. She told her that she was sometimes given only a
packet of instant noodles each for lunch and dinner.
On her death, she weighed just 36 kg, down from the 50 kg she
weighed when she arrived in Singapore two years ago. Miss
Muawanatul also corresponded with her parents in Indonesia. They
told her how to get her employers on her side. They sent her some
powdery substances to put into the family's food. That proved to be
her undoing, because Ng was enraged when he found out.
Asked if he would have reported the abuse to the police if
he had known of it, Mr Neo replied: 'Even if I knew, I wouldn't
have called the police, it's not my business.
'He can do
what he wants, that's his problem. And anyway, God can
see.'
200 Injuries
Head 5 bruises 4 scars
Neck 5 scars
Face 7 bruises 15 scars
Mouth 3 tears and 3 healing cuts in mouth and lips
Abdomen 12 long and round brown scars
Chest 8 burn scars - healing and healed superficial ones4 brown and
white scars plus multiple brown scars
Arms and Legs At least 85 scars and bruises
Hip 1 scar 1 bruise
Back 16 long scars on back 20 long scars across buttocks 6
ulcerated and scabbed sores