Updated: 01/28/2014 13:44 | By Channel NewsAsia
Woman jailed for burying newborn to conceal birth
Musliyati, 37, an Indonesian maid who buried the body of her new-born in the backyard of her employer's house in Serangoon Gardens was jailed for three months on Tuesday. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
SINGAPORE: A domestic worker was on Tuesday jailed 12 weeks by a district court after she was found to have buried her newborn baby in the backyard of her employer's home.
Musliyati, 37, an Indonesian who is divorced with two children back home, committed the crime in November last year at Brighton Avenue in Serangoon Garden.
The court heard that Musliyati had a relationship with a Malaysian man while she was working in Singapore.
Between April and October 2013, she would meet the man at a hotel in Geylang on her days off and have unprotected sex with him.
Musliyati would also consume pills, believed to be contraceptives, once a month.
She did not suspect she was pregnant until August that year when she realised she had gained weight.
She wore corsets and loose clothing to conceal her increasingly protruding stomach from her employer.
On November 3, believing she could be pregnant, Musliyati again bought and consumed pills, believed to be contraceptives from a man in Geylang.
On November 8, in the early hours, Musliyati gave birth to a baby boy while she was squatting over a toilet bowl.
It is not clear if the baby was alive at the time of the birth.
Musliyati then scooped the baby out of the toilet bowl, tore off the umbilical cord, wrapped the baby in a blanket, and placed him in a black plastic bag.
To conceal the birth, she dug a hole in the backyard of her employer's home and buried the baby there.
Her crime was discovered during a hospital check-up after she complained of pain and dizziness later in the day.
Police found the baby's body later.
In pressing for a custodial sentence, Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Lu said that it was possible that the baby's life could have been saved if there was early medical intervention.
Musliyati could have faced a maximum punishment of two years' jail and a fine. - CNA/nd
