Maid jailed for falsely accusing employer of sexual assault
SINGAPORE — An Indonesian maid who wanted to change her employer falsely reported that he had repeatedly forced her to perform oral sex on him, a court heard.
As part of her ruse, Candra Yunita, 32, gave a Ministry of Manpower investigator and a police investigator a detailed description of the alleged incidents, including what her employer had been wearing, the duration of the alleged assaults, and what he said to her.
She only came clean to the police 10 days later, after her employer had been brought in for questioning by the police and consented to undergo a polygraph examination, also known as a lie detector test.
At the State Courts on Thursday (6 February), Candra was jailed for four weeks after she pleaded guilty to one of two charges of giving false information to a public servant.
The other charge was considered in sentencing.
Wanted to change employer
Candra started working for her employer in June 2017 to help care for his children, including a daughter with special needs. But her work performance was found to be lacking and her employer would scold her. On several occasions, the daughter was injured while under the maid’s care, but the injuries were not elaborated in court.
On 25 May last year, the maid went back to Indonesia for a holiday. As her contract was expiring soon, she requested that her employer extend her work permit.
Candra returned to Singapore on 26 June and continued working for the family.
A month later, on 26 July, she walked into the Ministry of Manpower’s Services Centre at 1500 Bendemeer Road requesting to change her employer. She claimed that she had been sexually assaulted.
Candra told an investigator that her employer forced her to perform oral sex on him on four occasions between late 2017 to September 2018. The investigator then referred the matter to the police.
Later on the same day, Candra gave detailed accounts of the four alleged incidents to a police investigator. When asked why she didn’t report the matter earlier, she said she had missed the children and waited one month before running away.
The police brought in the employer for questioning and he denied all the maid’s allegations. He also said that he had scolded her for her poor work performance before.
On 5 August, while the police was recording another statement from Candra, she admitted that she had lied. She said she was angry that her employer would always scold her and threaten to report her to the police.
For giving false information to a public servant, Candra could have been jailed for up to a year and also fined $5,000.
Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
Other Singapore stories:
Wuhan virus: Employers must inform MOM of workers returning to Singapore from China – Lawrence Wong
HSA, ICA seize over $60,000 in electronic vaporiser items
Maid jailed for repeatedly hitting 19-month-old baby with hanger
