A 33-year-old woman working as a maid in Singapore was sentenced to 6-month jail in the country on Tuesday (4 April) for abusing a toddler that she was hired to take care of.
The woman, Indonesian national Masita Khoridaturochmah was charged with ill-treating the infant by biting her and willfully causing unnecessary physical pain. As reported by Today Online, the woman bit the infant because she was frustrated that the infant would not go to sleep.
According to court documents, Masita was hired to take care of the infant and her twin sister by their mother in 2021. While her primary duties were to take care of the twins, she was also tasked to do household chores for the mother.
The maid’s action was noticed by her employer after the latter saw a bruise in the shape of a bite mark on her while preparing the victim for bed on 26 May 2022. The biting incident had happened earlier that day when the employer left home to fetch her elder daughter from preschool.
The employer suspected Masita of biting the victim and confronted her about it. While she initially denied biting the infant, she eventually admitted to the act, going as far as kneeling down and apologising to the employer.
Afterwards, the employer reported Masita to the police. For ill-treating a child by willfully causing her unnecessary physical pain, she could have been jailed for up to 8 years, fined up to SGD8,000 (RM26,479), or both.
Also read: A Mother in Ampang Finds Bite Marks On Her Baby’s Face; Police Arrest The Nanny