SINGAPORE — A domestic worker who threatened her girlfriend with a knife during a quarrel about a "secret" phone was jailed for three months on Wednesday (Oct 6).

Believing that her girlfriend, also a domestic worker, was keeping secrets such as the phone from her, Calastre Elena Canto, 44, confronted and slapped her outside the home of the girlfriend’s employer.

The court heard that the pair, who are both Filipinas, worked for different employers and had known each other for five years.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tay Zhi Jie said that at the time, their relationship was strained and they were having arguments.

On the morning of Aug 2 this year, Canto took a knife from her employer and hid it in her pants, before heading to the home of her girlfriend’s employer along Aroozoo Avenue in Hougang with the intention to scare her.

Canto confronted her 42-year-old girlfriend about the secret phone, then slapped her several times on her cheeks. No other details about the phone were given in court.

She then brandished the knife at her girlfriend, whose scream caught the attention of a passer-by.

The passer-by tried to stop Canto, but she told the stranger to “mind your own business”.

She then threw the knife in a cluster of potted plants nearby.

The police were alerted to the fight and interviewed the pair at the scene. Canto was arrested that morning.

On Wednesday, Canto pleaded guilty to one count of criminal intimidation. One charge each of carrying an offensive weapon in a public place and voluntarily causing hurt were taken into consideration during sentencing by District Judge Jennifer Marie.

Her jail term was backdated to when she was arrested and placed in remand on Aug 2.

Seeking three months’ jail, DPP Tay noted that the High Court had previously ruled that if a weapon was used to intimidate — such as the knife in the present case — then a jail term was inevitable.

He added that Canto’s offence was premeditated, given that she had taken the knife all the way to find her girlfriend with the intention to scare her.

DPP Tay noted that Canto has been in remand for slightly more than two months and that she has been trying to get a volunteer lawyer through the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme but had been unable to do so.

Canto, who sobbed as she addressed the court via video-link, said that she merely wanted to scare her girlfriend and never had any intention to kill or hurt her.

“I still love her despite all the things that happened. I am very remorseful,” she said.

“Your honour, I’m so sorry for what I have done and to the people of Singapore, I’m sorry.”

For criminal intimidation, she could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or punished with both.