A Singaporean couple who pleaded guilty to starving their Filipina helper were fined and get jailed, Monday.
Freelance trader Lim Choon Hong, 47, was sentenced to three weeks' jail time while his wife Chong Sui Foon, also 47, was jailed for three months. Hong was fined $10,000 (P359,000).
The prosecution is appealing for the maximum sentence of one year's jail for both. The couple are on bail of $3,000 (P107,000) each pending the appeal.
Lim was convicted March of last year of a charge of contravening the Employment of Foreign Manpower Regulations 2012, which requires employers to pay and provide adequate food and medical treatment to their domestic helpers. Chong was found guilty of abetting Lim in committing the offense.
The couple's helper, Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, was provided with only two meals a day at their previous condominium home at Boulevard Residence in Cuscaden Walk.
40-year-old Gawidan's weight had dropped from 49kg to 29kg over a 15-month period.
The first meal, which was usually provided at around 1am to 2am, comprised two to three slices of plain white bread and one to two packets of instant noodles. Occasionally, Chong would mix small portions of vegetables and meat with the instant noodles.
The second meal, which was provided in the late morning or early afternoon, would consist of five to six slices of plain white bread.
Lim, Chong and their three children ate different food, which was greater in quantity and higher in nutritional value that what Gawidan was provided with.
In addition, Gawidan needed to ask permission from the couple before she could drink water and would be given water from the tap. The domestic helper stopped menstruating after February 2013 and her hair started falling out a few months later.
Gawidan was also denied using the toilets inside the couple's home and had to use the common toilet in the condominium. She was allowed to shower once or twice a week and Chong would stand inside the toilet while she showered.
The couple also kept her salary from Gawidan, claiming they were saving it for her. Gawidan could not buy her own food because of this.
Gawidan's mobile phone was also kept from her. She was not allowed to go out on her own and was not allowed any days off between January 2013 to April 2016
Asked why she did not tell anyone about her alleged maltreatment, Gawidan said: "I was scared of them. They were always guarding me in the house, every movement I make in the house. They were always watching me."
In April last year, she finally made her escape. She said: "They made me clean around the elevator area, and this time they didn't follow me, so I pressed the elevator button down and went inside."
She fled to Far East Shopping Centre, where she borrowed a phone and called someone she knew. Her friend took her to a shelter run by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics.
During the trial Lim said his wife had suffered from anorexia nervosa and from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Due to her preferences, Lim said their lifestyle "revolved around food and cleanliness."
Source: Inquirer | The Strait Times
Image: The Strait Times
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