Jailed: Maid scratched babies' faces out of revenge

The maid wanted revenge against her employers for scolding her and wanted them to hurt.

She even wanted their children to scream.

So, she scratched their twin babies' faces with her nails, causing one of them to bleed.

The 24-year-old Indonesian, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the children, pleaded guilty yesterday to hurting the 14-month-old twins.

She was jailed for 12 weeks on one charge of voluntarily causing hurt, with another charge taken into consideration.

The maid was employed in November 2017 to look after the twins, a boy and a girl. About a year later, she was scolded by their grandmother for not keeping the ironing board properly.

She was also scolded when her family called her employer one night asking to speak to her.

Upset, the maid planned to make the toddlers cry to annoy their grandmother.

At 10.40am on Nov 10 last year, the maid walked to the living room and brushed her fingers forcefully over the sleeping girl's face, causing her to wail, before running to another room.

Their grandmother ran over and coaxed her back to sleep.

But the maid felt the child had not cried loudly enough.

She crept out again at 10.45am, and this time scratched the sleeping boy's face with her fingernails, drawing blood and causing him to wail loudly, before running off.

CCTV

The grandmother saw scratch marks and blood on the boy's face and immediately called his mother who was working at the time.

The mother then checked the footage of the closed-circuit television camera in the living room through her mobile phone and saw what had happened.

The video was played in court yesterday.

It showed the maid creeping into the living room as the twins slept in their stroller.

She looked around to ensure the grandmother was not looking before clawing the child's face then running away.

When confronted, the maid denied her actions.

The mother made a police report at about 3.30pm that day.

At about 7.30pm, she took her son to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

His medical report revealed he had a 2cm and a 0.8cm mark on his forehead and a 0.2cm mark on his right eyelid.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong said there was premeditation, as the maid had checked to ensure the grandmother was not looking.

He asked for a three-month jail sentence.

The maid did not apologise during mitigation, but told the court she was married with a child who was being looked after by her parents. She also asked for a lighter sentence.

For each charge of voluntarily causing hurt, the maid could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined up to $5,000, or both.