An Indonesian domestic worker in Singapore has been jailed after she injured her employer’s twin babies by scratching their faces.
On April 8, the 24-year-old Indonesian woman, whose identity was withheld to protect the victims, was sentenced to jail for injuring a 14-month-old baby boy, the Straits Times reported. It was found that she had also injured the boy’s twin sister.
At around 10:40am on November 10, 2018, when the twins were asleep in the living room of the house where she worked, the domestic worker scratched the baby girl with her fingernails before returning to her room. When the baby’s grandmother heard the baby crying, she consoled the child and got her back to sleep before returning to the kitchen.
The worker then scratched the baby boy, as she thought the baby girl had not cried enough to disturb the grandmother. Soon after, the grandmother tended to the crying boy and saw scratch marks with traces of blood on his face.
When confronted, the domestic worker initially denied the accusations. However after her employers lodged a police complaint, the worker admitted that she had been upset after the grandmother had berated her earlier for misplacing an ironing board.
In addition, the children’s mother had also scolded her after her family in Indonesia called the house at night and asked to speak to the domestic worker.
The prosecutors urged the court to sentence the defendant to at least three months of jail time as she had abused the trust placed in her by the family. After pleading guilty, the defendant, who appeared without representation, was jailed for 12 weeks.