Maid alleges male employer made her go on all fours and kicked her on buttocks

[Kenshi]

Maid alleges male employer made her go on all fours and kicked her on buttocks

Tay Wee Kiat (left) and his wife Chia Yun Ling, who are facing maid abuse charges, at the State Court on April 4, 2016. ST PHOTO: JAMIE KOH

Ms Moe Moe Than (in green) is the prosecution's first witness during the trial today (April 4) at the State Court.ST PHOTO: JAMIE KOH

Published 8 hours ago
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - A former Myanmar maid told a court on Monday (April 4) that her male employer made her and another maid go on all fours and then kicked them on their buttocks.

Ms Moe Moe Than, 27, unemployed, said this happened after both she and Indonesian domestic worker Fitriyah, now 36, had denied folding a small piece of paper belonging to his daughter.

She said the paper, which seemed to be very important, was folded in. Both maids were asked by IT manager Tay Wee Kiat who folded it, but neither of them said they did it.

He then made them go on all fours and kicked them.

"I fell on the floor. I hit the glass panel. She (Fitriyah) also fell on the glass panel and on the floor. I was in pain," she said through a Myanmar interpreter.

She also told the court that Tay, 38, made the two of them slap each other 10 times and to "worship'' infront of the altar when they were both Christians.

The reason: Tay discovered that the cloth covering the statues on the altar table had been moved and questioned them.

She said she and the other maid did what was told as they were afraid that they would not be given food to eat.

The court heard that Ms Than began working for the household in Yishun in December 2011. In October 2012, her female employer, Chia Yun Ling, 41, sent her to the airport after telling her that she was taking her to the police station.

She said she did not know why she was being sent to the airport. Chia also told her not to talk to anyone at the airport.

Two months later, she returned to Singapore. She she wanted to "report'' the employers, and that she did not want others to go through what she had gone through.

She was picked up by her maid agent who referred her to the Ministry of Manpower. She was then taken to a shelter.

Tay, who faces a total of 23 charges, has claimed trial to 12 proceeded charges. Two of these relate to allegedly offering to pay Ms Fitriyah her full salary and send her home if she did not report him; and for allegedly abetting her to give false information to the police in December 2012.

The other charges accuse him of assaulting Ms Fitriyah with a cane or bamboo stick, instructing her to stand on a stool while holding another stool above her head and forcing a plastic bottle into her mouth, pulling her out of the car causing her to fall, making her do push-ups and kicking her.

The alleged offences happened between February 2011 and December 2012.

Chia, a sales manager, is being tried on two charges of hurting Ms Fitriyah by slapping her twice in June 2012, and punching her on the forehead three times on Dec 7, 2012.

Earlier, Ms Than said her employer restricted her to drinking and going to the toilet to ease herself three times a day.

"If I did not follow the instructions, they would ask me to jump like a rabbit," she said.

Objecting, the couple's lawyer Wee Pan Lee said Ms Than was not a victim in any of the charges that the court was proceeding. He said the evidence was "prejudicial'' to the defence and asked that the evidence be struck out.

District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said the evidence would have to be treated very carefully. He took note of counsel's objection and said he would not attach any weight to that piece of evidence.

If convicted, the couple could be jailed for up to three years and fined $7,500 per causing hurt charge.

 

[Kenshi]

Maid says she was punished in bizarre ways

IT manager Tay Wee Kiat and his wife, Chia Yun Ling, are on trial for maid abuse.

Published Apr 7, 2016, 5:00 am SGT

For breaking statue, Indonesian says she had to stand on one leg as bottle is shoved into mouth

Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

A maid was forced to stand on one leg on a stool while holding another stool in her hand, a court heard yesterday.

The 33-year-old Indonesian, who goes by the name Fitriyah, said that while she maintained the stance for half an hour, her employer, Tay Wee Kiat, forced a small plastic bottle into her mouth.

Testifying in the trial of IT manager Tay and his wife, Chia Yun Ling, she claimed Tay forced the bizarre punishment onto her after wrongly accusing her of breaking an elephant statue.

"He pushed all of the bottle into my mouth until I felt pain," said Ms Fitriyah, who had apologised and explained that the couple's daughter had broken the statue. "I cried and told him: 'Don't do that to me.' "

The February 2011 ordeal ended when the couple decided to go out.

Tay, 38, denies 12 charges in relation to offences against Ms Fitriyah, while Chia, 41, has claimed trial to two.

Two of Tay's proceeded charges accuse him of offering to pay Ms Fitriyah her salary and sending her home, in return for not reporting his offence of voluntarily causing hurt to the police, and instructing her to lie to the police that he did not physically abuse the other maid, Myanmar national Moe Moe Than, 27.

Ms Fitriyah said she felt scared after the statue incident and wanted to change employers, but Chia would not let her.

She then took $50 from Chia's wallet and told Tay what she had done so that she would be sent back home.

When the couple took her to the agency, Ms Fitriyah refused to leave the car. She changed her mind about going to the agency, afraid that the staff there would scold her and not help her.

She said Tay pulled her hand and she fell onto the pavement, causing her pain in the chest.

The couple then took her to Tay's father's house. "I was informed that if I were to go back, I had to sleep with a Bangladeshi to earn money to buy a ticket...,'' she said in Bahasa Indonesia through an interpreter.

When she refused to stand on a stool again, Tay slapped her. She also testified that Tay had used a bundle of three canes tied together to hit her on the head "many times''.

He also hit her twice with a bamboo stick, she said.

Another alleged punishment involved the two maids being forced to pray 100 times before a Buddha statue for moving a piece of cloth that was covering it.

Ms Fitriyah, who now works for another employer, demonstrated how it was done in court. With her hands clasped in front of her chest, she said she had to bow, kneel and then get up.

She said Tay then told her and Ms Than to slap each other 10 times.

Ms Fitriyah said once, when Tay found out that his son's swollen head was due to an accidental fall, he pulled her hair and took her to a room.

"Suddenly, he grabbed my chin hard and pushed me against the edge of the cupboard. My head hit the cupboard. He did it two times,'' she said.

She also testified that whenever she was punished, Tay would not give her any food.

The hearing continues.

 

[Kenshi]

Maid says employer promised to pay her and give her an air ticket home if she lied to police

Ms Fitriyah, who was Tay Wee Kiat's maid, said her employer told her he would pay her salary for two years and buy her an air ticket home if she helped him. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

Published Apr 7, 2016, 1:54 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

SINGAPORE - An Indonesian domestic worker, who was allegedly abused by a couple, told a court on Thursday (April 7) that her male employer said he would pay her salary for two years and buy her an air ticket home if she helped him.

Ms Fitriyah, 33, said this happened when she was in her employer Tay Wee Kiat's car near Khatib where Tay's father lives. He told her that police and Ministry of Manpower officers were at his home.

"He told me not to inform officers that he hit me and hit Moe Moe Than, and that Moe Moe Than was the one who can't work and look after children,'' she said.

She said Tay, an IT manager, told her that if she helped him, he would pay her full salary and buy her an air ticket to go back to Indonesia.

Tay had gone to fetch Ms Fitriyah from his father's home as she was needed to help in investigation that day - Dec 12, 2012 - following allegations by Ms Than of maid abuse.

Ms Than had returned to Singapore from Yangon, Myanmar, shortly after she was repatriated after working for the Tays for 10 months in 2012. She said she came back as she wanted to report the employers and did not want others to go through what she had.

Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan what her reaction was when she heard Tay say those things, Ms Fitriyah said she was thinking if she agreed to help him, she would be able to complain to the officer.

But in reality, she did not want to listen to Tay. But she told him that she would help.

Back at the couple's flat, she saw both police and MOM officers.

Asked by two female police officers if she was hit, Ms Fitriyah denied this because she was ''scared''.

Later, when the officers took her into a room, she told them that she was beaten up.

"I informed them sir and ma'am hit me. They checked my body for injuries. My forehead was still swollen....'' she said in Bahasa Indonesia through an interpreter.

She was taken away by the police and sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for a medical check-up.

She later stayed at the Good Shepherd Centre in Yishun until April last year when she returned to Indonesia.

She came back in August last year and has found a new job in Singapore.

She is the prosecution's second witness at the continued trial of Tay, 38, who has claimed trial to 10 charges of abusing her and two of bribing a witness and instructing her to make a false statement that he did not physically abuse Ms Than.

Tay's wife, Chia Yun Ling, 41, faces two charges of slapping Ms Fitriyah and punching her on the forehead.

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