Maid who threw boy onto ground jailed
She was nabbed after her actions were caught on video and posted online
Frustrated that her employer's five-year-old son kept struggling when she carried him, the domestic helper threw the toddler onto the ground, twice.
Her actions were caught on video and she was nabbed after the clip went viral.
The Indonesian maid, 24, who cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the victim's identity, was yesterday jailed eight months after she pleaded guilty to one count of ill-treating the child.
On March 12, the maid had gone after the boy at about 9am when he went out towards a field in front of Block 673C Edgefield Plains in Punggol.
She had been working at the household since November last year and taking care of the boy was part of her job.
The boy struggled when she picked him up on the field, and she smacked his buttocks, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ang Siok Chen said.
When this did not work, the maid deliberately threw the boy onto the ground, lifted him up, and threw him down a second time.
She then picked the boy up again and brought him home.
The same day, the boy told his mother, 34, about what happened and said he felt pain on his chest. But the maid denied it and claimed the boy rolled onto the ground himself.
The truth came to light two days later when the boy's mother came across a video of the incident on Facebook.
The video was taken by an eyewitness and was first posted on a WeChat group with a community of Singapore mothers. It was then shared on Facebook and citizen journalism site Stomp.
Recognising her child, the boy's mother made a police report. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was found to have suffered mild tenderness over his spine and chest.
Calling the maid's actions wilful, DPP Ang had sought a jail term of eight to 10 months.
The maid, who was unrepresented, asked District Judge Ng Peng Hong for a lighter sentence and apologised to the boy's mother in court yesterday.
For the crime, she could have been jailed for up to four years and fined up to $4,000.
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