Maid who stuffed chilli padi in girl's mouth, hit her, jailed 6 months
Angry that her instructions were not being followed, a maid stuffed a chilli padi into a seven-year-old girl’s mouth knowing that the child was afraid of spicy food.
Hamida, a 33-year-old Indonesian who goes by just one name, then caned the victim and hit the side of her head with a wooden board.
On Monday (10 December), she was sentenced to six months’ jail after admitting to one count of wilfully causing the girl – her employer’s daughter – unnecessary physical pain. The girl cannot be named to protect her identity.
Worked with family for 7 years
According to court documents, Hamida had been working for the victim’s family for seven years at the time of the offence. Part of her duties entailed caring for the victim and her nine-year-old sister.
At about 4pm on 27 July, Hamida was at home looking after the girl and her sister when the girl wet herself. When the maid asked what happened, the girl kept silent.
The maid then told the girl to do her spelling homework but the girl refused to comply.
Hamida then took a chilli padi, measuring 1cm to 2cm in length, from the refrigerator and stuffed it into the girl’s mouth. She knew that the girl was afraid of spicy food and the act was meant to scare the victim.
The girl felt “hot” when the chilli padi was stuffed into her mouth, said the prosecution.
Hamida also caned the girl’s left shoulder, causing her to cry. The maid then used a cat scratch board – a type of scratching post for cats – to hit the girl’s head. The wooden board weighed 1.3kg and the blow caused the girl to cry.
When the girl’s mother returned home, she was alerted by her older daughter to the incident. The mother noticed the injury on her younger daughter’s head and called the police.
A medical report showed that the girl had abrasions on the left side of her head along with three spots of dried blood.
‘Cruelty and malice’ shown: Lawyer
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Wen Shan sought six months’ jail saying that the maid had breached the trust placed in caregivers.
There was also an element of “cruelty and malice” as well as intrusion involved in the act of stuffing the chilli padi into the girl’s mouth, knowing the child’s fears, said the prosecutor.
Hamida, who was not represented, said she had nothing to say when asked if she wanted to make any mitigating statement. For her actions, she could have been jailed up to four years, fined $4,000, or both.
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