Maid who killed employer's daughter jailed 20 years
By Kimberly Spykerman | Posted: 08 October 2012 2021 hrs
SINGAPORE: An Indonesian maid who pushed a 12-year-old disabled girl off a ledge in 2010 was jailed 20 years for culpable homicide on Monday.
The maid, who goes by one name, Nurhayati, was 16 years old at the time she pushed Linda Lee Yee Lin off the 16th floor parapet ledge of a block in Hougang Street 51.
She had been hired only the month before to care for Linda.
The court heard that Nurhayati was having difficulty adjusting to life in Singapore, and had not been well-equipped or trained to care for a disabled child.
Linda suffered from Scoliosis, and was both physically and mentally disabled.
The court also heard that Nurhayati was angry and irritated with Linda's father, Mr Lee Kai Yam, as he often reprimanded her about her work.
She had even planned to kill him by mixing his coffee with insect poison, but did not follow through.
On November 24, 2010, Nurhayati suddenly thought of killing Linda, to take revenge on Mr Lee.
After Mr Lee left for work, Nurhayati carried Linda out of the family's flat on the fourth floor and took the lift to the ground floor, but did not know how to kill her.
She then got back into the lift and went up to the 16th floor, where she then pushed Linda off the parapet wall.
Nurhayati then staged Linda's disappearance as a child abduction.
She wrote a note addressed to Mr Lee using a red pen, and taped it to Linda's bedroom door, before she lay down, naked, on the floor of the bedroom to pretend she was sexually assaulted.
Police later uncovered the truth during investigations.
The prosecution pressed for a deterrent sentence saying that the victim was a vulnerable handicapped child, and that the crime was committed out of spite and pure vengeance.
Linda's parents were present for the hearing.
Her father said he was still trying to cope with the loss of his only child.
Nurhayati's mother was also in court, and spent 15 tearful minutes with her daughter after the sentence was meted out.
- CNA/cc
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