Maid who mistreated twin toddlers jailed 4 weeks
SINGAPORE — Suspecting that her family’s domestic helper had been rough with her twin boys, a mother began reviewing the CCTV footage from her home more frequently, which is how she caught the 25-year-old Filipina pinching her boys.
Fallorina Joann Marie Gayares was jailed four weeks on Thursday (7 November) on one count of mistreating a three-year-old boy by pushing his mouth, poking him in the chest, pinching his left cheek and flicking his head.
Another charge of pinching his twin brother on the thigh was taken into consideration for her sentencing. None of the family members can be named to protect the boys’ identities.
It was Fallorina first time working as a maid in Singapore and she had worked for the family for about a year at the time she committed the offences. She was tasked with caring for the family’s three-year-old twin boys by fetching them from school, feeding, bathing and playing with them.
Caught on CCTV
While the twins’ parents were out of the house on the evening of 15 April, the mother observed the maid feeding the boys via a mobile application linked to the CCTV cameras in the home. She witnessed Fallorina wiping one boy’s mouth roughly as well as poking him in the chest.
When the boy dribbled food onto his shirt, Fallorina stared at him, causing the boy to flinch slightly. Fallorina then pinched the boy’s left ear, causing the boy to flinch even more.
Fallorina also raised her elbow and gestured at the boy, as if she was going to hit him, causing the boy to flinch again.
The maid then shouted at the boy, commanding him to “swallow” and flicked his head with her finger. She then told him to follow her to change his clothes before leaving the living room with the boy.
After watching the footage, which lasted less than a minute, they twins’ parents returned to the flat and confronted the maid. The mother asked her son if Fallorina had hit or pinched him, to which the boy replied yes.
The mother then called the police.
During a medical examination at the hospital, no injuries or bruises were found on the boy, who also did not complain of pain. For ill-treating a child in her custody, Fallorina could have been jailed up to four years, fined up to $4,000, or both.
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