Maid jailed 4 months for assaulting employer's intellectually disabled daughter
The domestic helper from Myanmar had been working for the family for only a few months when, in an act of frustration, she assaulted her employer’s intellectually disabled daughter.
For her actions, 24-year-old Lal Ven Tluang was sentenced to four months’ jail at the State Courts on Tuesday (19 December) after pleading guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to the 25-year-old victim.
The court heard that on 29 July this year, Lal’s employer Lim Bee Leng found multiple bruises on her daughter’s cheeks, chest, arms, thighs and buttocks. The victim was unable to tell Lim how she had sustained the injuries but appeared to be afraid of Lal. At the time of the offence, Lal had been working for the family for about three or four months.
Lim checked the footage of a closed circuit television camera installed in her home and saw that Lal had hurt her daughter in the bedroom. Among other actions, Lal had grabbed and shook the victim’s head and also hit her face. She also pushed the victim to the floor.
The assault took place over about five minutes in the early hours of the morning. Lim later called the maid agency to lodge a complaint and also made a police report. According to court papers, Lal said she assaulted the victim because the latter did not understand what she was being taught and did not listen to Lal.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Si En sought a jail term of four months saying that the victim was vulnerable because she was intellectually disabled and noted that she was unable to tell her mother how she sustained the injuries.
Lal had also abused her position as a caregiver and it was “fortuitous” that the assault was captured on video, said Tan who added that considerable force was used in the assault as the victim’s bruises had appeared on the same day.
In mitigation, the petite and soft-spoken Lal said she knew what she did was “very wrong”. She added that she was remorseful for her actions and asked for leniency.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur agreed with the prosecution and sentenced Lal to four months’ jail while noting that Lal had betrayed her employer’s trust with her “egregious” actions.
For voluntarily causing hurt, Lal could have been jailed up to two years and fined up to $5,000.
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