Fried "Fish" Finger
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Straits Time 11 Mar 2006
Jailed 7 months for dipping maid's finger in hot oil
Housewife, 50, scalded maid for using too much oil to fry fish; maid agency had issued her 2 warnings
By Elena Chong
A WOMAN who scalded her Indonesian maid after she used too much oil to fry fish was jailed a total of seven months yesterday on two maid abuse charges.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Olivine Lin pressed for a deterrent sentence against 50-year-old housewife Chan Yow Kuen, pointing out that her offences were serious and had continued even after a maid agency had issued two warnings to her.
'For the victim, it must have been extremely frightening as the accused held and forcibly inserted her finger into the hot oil,' Ms Lin added.
Now unemployed, the 24-year-old maid Siti Kamsiyah Kamijan is staying temporarily at her agent's house.
In the dock yesterday, Chan was in tears as her lawyer Sarbrinder Singh pleaded for leniency and compassion.
Mr Singh told District Judge Tan Puay Boon that Chan, who had a stroke in August 2004, had never ill-treated any of her three previous maids.
He said Chan had committed the offences out of frustration and anger, because Miss Siti's work was unsatisfactory.
The first charge relates to an incident on March 22 last year, when she found her maid using what she thought was too much oil in the frying pan.
After scolding her, the mother of two grabbed the maid's left ring finger and pushed it into the hot oil.
The next morning, the abuse continued.
While Miss Siti was preparing breakfast for the children, aged nine and 17, at about 6.15am, Chan asked her why she had served bread on two consecutive days.
She then punched Miss Siti on the forehead and in the eye, pulled her right ear and pinched her breast.
Twenty minutes later, while the maid was washing clothes, Chan physically assaulted her again.
The maid, who had been employed at the Clementi household since Jan 6, then ran off to see a friend, who gave her $10 and told her to make a police report.
Three other charges against Chan - putting a hot skillet on the maid's forearm in January, slapping her on Feb 16, and hitting her on the head several times in March - were considered during sentencing.
The most severe sentence meted out to a maid abuser so far was in March 2002, when a 30-year-old customer relations officer was sentenced to five years' jail for burning, stabbing and biting her Indonesian maid.
Chan could have been jailed for up to 18 months and fined up to $1,500 on each charge.
She and her husband will be blacklisted permanently from hiring maids.
[email protected]
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How can someone treat another human being like that?
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Sometime cannot understand. Wonder if their employer did all that to them just because the employer paid the employee.
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Treating domestic workers like slaves, whatever happened to civilised society?
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Must say how many times, fish don't have fingers.
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some maids are really cannot tahan one.. they can retort u or wad, many other tricks to make people so angry..
but still, the Chan shouldn't have abused the maid.. her folly..
best is dun have maid la -
I find the employer too much already. Was hoping for a 1 year sentence to put a stern message across.
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Majority of Singaporeans have this primitive mindset that a maid is a servant and a tool, not an employee.
But then again, even workplace welfare is severely under-evolved compared to many industrialised nations.For every lady in a suit at work, deep inside, many are just histrionical people with no class and etiquette in treating a subordinate professionally. -
sad sad...
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cant be worse than the holocaust.
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siao employer one.
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everytime, its the same...the abusvie employer torture the maid. Then, he or she will cry and says they are remorseful when in court...
this type of people, should jail them with longer terms!
anyway, not that i am sexist..but most kana charge to court for abused are females?? hehee..
and those kana charge to court for molest, etc are males.( thats logical) haha -
It's always common to see them weaping away saying they're remorseful. Wonder how many are not acting?Originally posted by darknessfall:everytime, its the same...the abusvie employer torture the maid. Then, he or she will cry and says they are remorseful when in court...
this type of people, should jail them with longer terms!
anyway, not that i am sexist..but most kana charge to court for abused are females?? hehee..
and those kana charge to court for molest, etc are males.( thats logical) haha -
Pls implement this for a capital punishment of death or life sentence on parole to deter ppl from abusing maids.....
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yeah. always the women who do such actions to their maids. put hot iron on their body lah, dip finger in oil lah.. all sorts of 'creative' things..
guys only one thing, molest. -
R.A.P.E also dun forget...Originally posted by sinicker:yeah. always the women who do such actions to their maids. put hot iron on their body lah, dip finger in oil lah.. all sorts of 'creative' things..
guys only one thing, molest. -
No such thing here.Originally posted by ^spidee^:Treating domestic workers like slaves, whatever happened to civilised society? -
U go Indonesia & India lagi worse....Originally posted by Remo Fernandez:No such thing here.
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This shows women can be very cruel.Originally posted by sinicker:yeah. always the women who do such actions to their maids. put hot iron on their body lah, dip finger in oil lah.. all sorts of 'creative' things..
guys only one thing, molest. -
humans are basically barbaric and uncivilised . what to expect. humans are just another form of high classed animal who evolved from a primitive animal called the apeOriginally posted by larrenV2.003:U go Indonesia & India lagi worse.... -
hell has no fury, like a woman scorned...............Originally posted by photo_seeker:This shows women can be very cruel. -
Kinda disappointing don't you think? We are a first-world country, yet we treat people with double standards. Not a very good example for our kids eh?
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Originally posted by ^spidee^:Kinda disappointing don't you think? We are a first-world country, yet we treat people with double standards. Not a very good example for our kids eh? people were just trying to make a living.
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Those employers just bully the maids as if they have no life. They can treat a dog better then a human.
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exactly, and all alone in this foreign land.. the least employers could do is to treat their maids as human beings..Originally posted by LinYu: people were just trying to make a living.