• Tan Bee Kim pleaded guilty midway through a trial
• Her maid, Ms Zeny Aquino Landingin, suffered abuse over at least five years
• Tan struck her with a clay cup, ladle and heel of a high-heeled shoe

SINGAPORE — A 54-year-old woman who repeatedly struck and slapped her domestic worker over at least five years, using items like a high-heeled shoe and a ladle, was sentenced to six months’ jail on Tuesday (Oct 20).

Tan Bee Kim, a former Furama Hotel employee, initially contested her offences but decided to plead guilty to a single charge midway through her trial. 

Twelve other counts of causing hurt to Ms Zeny Aquino Landingin, now 48 years old and a mother of six, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Tan will begin serving her sentence on Oct 30.

Ms Landingin had testified that she took handwritten notes of the abuse to use as evidence against her employer, and that she endured it to earn money for her family back in the Philippines.

She worked for Tan from September 2012 to March 2018. She earned a monthly basic salary of S$450, but Tan deducted small sums when Ms Landingin damaged any items in the flat.

Court documents showed that from the time Tan employed Ms Landingin, she abused the maid by:

• Hitting her on the head with a clay cup

• Striking her on the arm and head with a metal ladle

• Hitting the top of her head with her palm in a Tampines car park

• Slapping her face twice, striking her chest six times and hitting her head 13 times

• Hitting the side of her head with the heel of a high-heeled shoe at least thrice

• Pinching the base of her neck several times

• Hitting her head with a mobile phone

The court heard that the final incident happened on the evening of March 24, 2018.

Ms Landingin had prepared Tan’s dinner, served it to her at the living room where she was watching a television programme, and returned to the kitchen.

Halfway through eating, Tan called the maid back to the living room and asked what ladle she had used to serve the food.

Ms Landingin retrieved the ladle, but Tan told her to come closer. She then struck the maid twice on the side of her head and once on her forehead with another ladle, meant for serving soup, before scolding Ms Landingin for using a smaller one to serve the food.

The swelling on Ms Landingin’s head persisted till the next morning. She then lodged a police report at Tampines Neighbourhood Police Centre.

In mitigation, Tan’s lawyer Manoj Nandwani said the case had a “major effect” on his client, who quit her job after not being able to concentrate.

She had not subjected the maid to any oppression or withheld food from her, Mr Nandwani added.

In fact, Ms Langindin had returned to Singapore to work for Tan after going back to the Philippines in 2015.

While prosecutors argued that Tan was motivated by economic reasons, Mr Nandwani said Tan had tried to help the maid to come back to Singapore while securing the lowest maid agency fees possible.

Ms Langindin was also “almost half-pleading to come back” to work, as evidenced from WhatsApp messages produced during the trial, Mr Nandwani said. 

As for the salary deductions over damaged items, Mr Nandwani said the maid had damaged three items and Tan deducted S$10 from her salary for each.

“This was not done in some punitive way to exact punishment without a basis,” the lawyer added.

The maximum penalty for causing hurt is up to two years’ jail and a fine of up to S$5,000. Employers of domestic helpers, or those in their household, are liable to one-and-a-half times the punishment — resulting in up to three years’ jail and a fine of up to S$7,500.