SINGAPORE: A 52-year-old Indian-origin man in Singapore has been sentenced to 14 weeks in jail for beating up his Filipino maid, a month after his wife was imprisoned for abusing the same domestic helper.
Janardana Jayasankarr, who worked as a security guard, grabbed 31-year-old Miezel Cagas Limbaga’s T-shirt, dragged her into a bedroom and took turns to hit the helper with his wife on January 20 last year.
Jayasankarr slapped her face and punched her stomach and chest. As Limbaga lay on the ground in pain, unable to get up after the assault, he stamped on her back, The Straits Times reported.
His wife, Vidya Jayasankarr, 32, slapped the maid and grabbed her neck with both hands. She was sentenced to a week in jail last month.
Jayasankarr pleaded guilty to three charges of causing hurt and admitted to another count of the same, which was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Limbaga had started working for the couple in October 2014. She earned Singapore dollar 400 a month and did not have any days off.
Her duties included doing housework, cooking and taking care of the couple’s two children, aged four and five.
The maid’s case was reported after another Filipino maid within the housing estate saw bruises on the victim’s face, arms and chest on January 22 last year.
Limbaga confided she had been beaten up by her employers and confirmed the assault to the police.
A hospital doctor recorded bruises on her scalp, cheeks, upper chest, back and left hip.
Jayasankarr’s lawyer Rajan Nair said in mitigation the maid turned out to be a poor helper.
“She neglected her duties, had poor hygiene and could not get used to the family’s lifestyle,” said the lawyer defending Jayasankarr.
The lawyer also claimed that Limbaga had punished the couple’s two children by beating them with a broom on a few occasions, and had threatened to punish them further if they told their parents about it.
The maximum penalty for voluntarily causing hurt is two years’ jail and a Singapore dollar 5,000 fine.
The maximum punishment for the offence, if committed against a domestic maid by her employer, or a member of the household, is three years’ jail term and a Singapore dollar 7,500 fine.
Jayasankarr will start serving his sentence on April 1.–PTI
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