Employers accused of starving maid for 15 months, causing her to go from 49kg to 29kg
Lim Choon Hong (right) and Chong Sui Foon, who failed to provide their former domestic worker with adequate food.ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Filipino maid Thelma Oyasan Gawidan (above) dropped from 49kg to 29kg over 15 months as a result of her employers not giving her adequate food. ST PHOTHO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Published Dec 14, 2015, 11:51 am SGT
Amir Hussain
SINGAPORE - A Singaporean couple claimed trial on Monday (Dec 14) to charges of failing to provide their former Filipino domestic worker with adequate food, causing her weight to drop by 20kg over a 15-month period.
Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, 40, weighed just 29kg when she was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in April last year, compared to 49 kg in Jan 2013.
Her former employer, Lim Choon Hong, 47, faces one charge of contravening Condition 1 in Part 1 of the Fourth Schedule to the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations 2012.
Lim's wife, Chong Sui Foon, 47, faces a count of abetting Lim in committing the offence.
A district court heard that Ms Thelma ran away from Lim's condominium on April 18 last year, and sought refuge at a shelter run by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
Home then reported Ms Thelma's complaints of weight loss, insufficient rest and food, and unacceptable sleeping space to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
When MOM investigation officer Christina Quek interviewed her on April 21, Ms Thelma was observed to be "emotional" and "about to cry" when questioned about her food, sleep, and how her employers treated her.
Ms Thelma said she was given two meals a day, with each ration consisting of instant noodles and a slice of bread.
She claimed that she was made to sleep in a storeroom, and instructed to sleep at odd hours of the day such as at 11am.
She was allowed to bathe only once or twice a week, at a public toilet in her employer's condominium. Chong would also watch her shower, as the latter "did not want her to bathe too long," Ms Quek said.
Ms Thelma also claimed that she was not allowed to brush her teeth.
Ms Quek later asked Home to send Ms Thelma for a medical check up at a general practitioner, and later at a hospital.
Although Lim footed the GP's bill, he refused to pay for Ms Thelma's hospital bill as he said she "is not sick", Ms Quek said.
TTSH doctor Lin Huiyu, who attended to Ms Thelma after she was taken to the hospital's emergency department by Home on April 29 told the court that she had said she was given insufficient food.
She also complained of difficulty sleeping, and had not had her menses for about a year.
Dr Lin said Ms Thelma also told doctors that she was given two meals a day, and ate only of bread and instant noodles.
At a review at the hospital in June last year, after she was discharged, she weighed 43kg.
Ms Thelma is expected to take the witness stand in the afternoon.
If convicted, Lim and Chong both face a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.
Re: Employers accused of starving maid for 15 months, causing her to go from 49kg to
Maid who was starved by her employers testifies that they watched her every move
Madam Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, 40. ST PHOTO:WONG KWAI CHOW
Published 11 hours ago
Amir Hussain
SINGAPORE - The former employers of a Filipino domestic helper who was starved for 15 months, causing her weight to drop from 49kg to 29kg, observed her every move and did not let her speak to anyone.
Testifying on the second day of the trial on Tuesday (Dec 15), Madam Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, 40, who claimed she ate only instant noodles and plain bread twice a day, said she was not allowed to go out on her own and did not get any days off.
She also said she did not receive her salary and had her mobile phone kept from her while she was employed by trader Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon, both 47, from January 2013 to April last year.
The Singaporean couple are on trial for failing to provide Madam Gawidan with adequate food. Lim faces one charge of contravening the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations 2012. Chong faces a count of abetting Lim in committing the offence.
Madam Gawidan told the court that she was allowed initially to use the toilet in Lim's condominium in the Orchard area. But, after working for few months, she was allowed to use only the public toilet next to the swimming pool.
"Although I sometimes urgently needed to use the toilet, she (Chong) would ask me to wait, and she would accompany me," she said.
Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Soo Tet whether she could have bought food on her own, Madam Gawidan said her salary was withheld by her employers, who told her that they were saving it for her.
She only received a $500 "allowance" while working with the family, but was made to put it in a plastic bag and asked to hide it among her dirty clothes.
Asked why she did not tell anyone about how she was being treated by the family, she said: "I was scared of them (Lim and Chong). I didn't have the courage.
"They're always guarding me in the house, every movement I make in the house. They're always watching me, guarding me if I make a mistake," she said.
"They're watching me when I wake up, what I eat, what I drink and when to take a shower," she added.
When the helper told her employers that she wanted to speak with her maid agency, they allegedly told her: "Whatever you want to say to the agent, you can tell us, and we can tell the agent about it." She said she just kept quiet after that.
After she started work, she also locked her mobile phone in her suitcase, which was not kept in Lim's house. Her employers told her they would take the luggage to "the storeroom near the airport".
On one occasion, she saw an Indonesian domestic helper at an opposite apartment unit. The Filipina gestured at her stomach, but Chong saw her and scolded her, saying she was not allowed to communicate with anyone.
Another time, she said, a Filipino embassy staff called Lim and asked to speak to her. The staff told her that a Filipina town mate had gone to the embassy to inform him that Madam Gawidan had not contacted her family or sent any money back. She has a husband and three children, aged 17, 15 and 11.
On two occasions, she said, other Filipino maids inquired about her condition. One time, at the market, one of them asked her why she was so skinny. Another time, while she was in a lift in Hong Kong with Chong and her daughter, a Filipino helper told her in Tagalog: "Your employer is not treating you well, you have to report them."
On that family trip to Hong Kong, Madam Gawidan said, her employers also took along instant noodles and bread for her; they ate at restaurants on the trip.
On April 18 last year, she said she could not tolerate the treatment any longer, and sought refuge at a shelter run by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics (Home).
She recounted: "They made me clean around the elevator area, and this time they didn't follow me, so I took the opportunity to run away. I pressed the elevator button down and went inside."
She went to Far East Shopping Centre, which is opposite Lim's condominium, borrowed a phone, and dialed the number of a town mate of whom she had memorised .
Her friend, Ms Lilibeth, took her to eat before taking her to the Home shelter.
There, she was given at least three meals a day, consisting of rice, bread, meat, vegetables and sometimes fruits.
The trial is continuing with Madam Gawidan's cross-examination on Tuesday afternoon.
If convicted, Lim and Chong both face a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.
Re: Employers accused of starving maid for 15 months, causing her to go from 49kg to
Maid abuse case: Employer's wife has suffered from anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder
Chong Sui Foon (left) and her husband Lim Choon Hong on the third day of their trial.ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Published 6 hours ago
Amir Hussain
SINGAPORE - The man on trial for underfeeding his former Filipino domestic worker on Wednesday (Dec 16) spoke of his wife's obsession with cleanliness and her mental illnesses - anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Businessman Lim Choon Hong said he often travelled for work, and left charge of the household to his wife, Chong Sui Foon.
Lim said Chong, who is currently taking psychiatric medication, did not intend to harm their helper Madam Thelma Oyasan Gawidan.
"I do admit that Thelma has lost weight, but it's definitely not because of my wife's evil intention or the wickedness in her heart; it's just unfortunate," he said while crying.
The couple, both 47, face charges of failing to provide Madam Gawidan, 40, with adequate food, contravening the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations 2012. Under the law, employers have to bear the cost of food for their helpers.
Testifying on the third day of the trial, Lim said Chong left school after primary five, and was educated in Chinese. Lim, meanwhile, stopped school after his O Levels. The couple married in 1990.
"My wife is not academically inclined; she's a simple person."
"There's no evil in her heart.... she didn't do this to hurt anyone," he said in between sobs.
"There's no point depriving another human being of food."
Lim said he first met Chong shortly before he joined the army as a combat medic. Prior to meeting her, he had heard that she had "a tendency to be obsessive about cleanliness and food".
He found out, after their marriage, that she had seen a psychiatrist, and was warded a few times for anorexia nervosa - an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Once, when she was 16 or 17, she spent over a month at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
She also suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and treated cleanliness " like a religion".
Madam Thelma Oyasan Gawidan (far left), whose weight dropped from 49kg to 29kg in 15 months, said she had no way of buying food as her employers (left), trader Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon, kept her salary from
Because of preference for a simple and bland diet, and her tendency for cleanliness, Lim said their lifestyle "revolved around food and cleanliness". This created stress in the household, "but it never harmed anyone," he added.
In 2010, however, their second child, a son, ran away from home "because of my wife's tendencies," Lim said. Their son has yet to return. The couple now live with three other children; their eldest child, a daughter, is aged 21.
There was no cooking done in their condominium in Cuscaden, and there were also no snacks at home. It was kept bare, and packed food was bought "for simplicity".
"If the kitchen is dirtied, to clean it takes a long time. My wife won't mop it and be done," Lim said.
The family normally ate two meals a day, but sometimes husband and wife would only have a single meal. Occasionally, Chong would not eat at all.
"My wife mainly takes bread; she doesn't like anything else," Lim said. Sometimes, she ate rice.
On her obsession with cleaning, Lim said that before tidying up a wardrobe, Chong would take the clothes out and place them on a "protective sheet", clean the cupboard, and then put the clothes back. If Madam Thelma was doing the cleaning, she would have to take a shower first, he later added.
"It really beggars belief," he said, breaking down. Chong, who sat in the dock, also cried as she listened to her husband's testimony.
Since cleaning the rooms would take up much time, the family ended up "camping out in the living room", so that the rooms could be cleaned less frequently, Lim said.
They also showered in the public toilet next to the swimming pool, to save time having to clean the home toilet after each use, he claimed.
As the household ran on a fixed "schedule", Lim said he and Madam Gawidan at times skipped bathing, "because the opportunity to shower or the window has disappeared".
While the helper did request for a transfer, Lim said he persuaded her to stay on until he sold the home.
During his cross-examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) S. Sellakumaran, Lim was shown a photo of Madam Gawidan, taken a few days after she fled and sought refuge at a shelter in April last year, when she was 29kg.
Lim said he only noticed that the helper started to look that thin around February or March last year. "If she looked like this, I would definitely be shocked," he said.
Asked why he did not think there was anything wrong with her when he saw how frail she later was, Lim said: "She didn't complain. I would expect her to tell me if she was feeling unwell, but she did not."
Lim also denied that the maid had spoken to him about the inadequacy of her food. She only spoke to him about "food in general", he said.
His response to her, he told the court, was: "The whole household is like that, so you just follow."
Lim said he also knew Madam Gawidan "always ate her food; she finished her food". And she was also given meat, eggs and vegetables.
He would sometimes walk past her eating in the kitchen, he said.
But pressed by the DPP, he conceded that he had never seen what she ate, or seen her eating at all.
Asked to clarify how he knew what she ate, or if she ate at all, Lim said in exasperation: "She has to eat right? She doesn't run on air."
Earlier on Wednesday, maid agency owner Toh Ah Choon told the court that Lim's previous Indonesian maid had transferred out of the home after a short while. She had complained to him that she was given bread and instant noodles to eat.
Madam Gawidan now works for another family. Mr Lim's family has moved to the D'Leedon condominium at Leedon Heights.
The trial is expected to resume next month. If convicted, Lim and Chong each face a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.
Re: Employers accused of starving maid for 15 months, causing her to go from 49kg to
Maid abuse case: Employers' past maid also given bread and instant noodles, says witness
Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon allegedly put their previous Indonesian maid on the same diet. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Published Dec 16, 2015, 2:44 pm SGT
Amir Hussain
SINGAPORE - A couple, who allegedly underfed their Filipino maid, regularly giving her only bread and instant noodles to eat, put their previous Indonesian maid on the same diet, a court was told on Wednesday (Dec 16).
The Indonesian maid was sent back to the maid agency after a short while, and she complained to its owner, Mr Toh Ah Choon, about the food.
Mr Toh was testifying on the third day of the couple's trial on Wednesday (Dec 16).
Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon, both 47, face charges of failing to provide Madam Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, 40, with adequate food and so contravening the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations 2012.
Madam Gawidan had testified that she was regularly given only instant noodles and plain bread twice a day while working for Lim and Chong from from January 2013 to April last year.
Also taking the stand as a prosecution witness in the morning was Khoo Teck Puat Hospital's chief dietician Gladys Wong Hooi Chuan.
She testified that the "drastic" 40 per cent drop in Madam Gawidan's weight and the decrease in her body mass index - from 24.3 to 14.4 - could only have been caused by "inadequate food available for her to eat".
There was no evidence that the domestic helper was unable or unwilling to eat, the dietician said.
Ms Wong also noted that Madam Gawidan gained back weight quickly after she sought refuge at a shelter run by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, after she fled from her employers' condominium.
Based on what Madam Gawidan said she regularly ate - two packets of instant noodles and three slices of bread for one meal, with a slice of tomato or cucumber, and six slices of bread for a second meal - Ms Wong said the helper's food was not only inadequate, but also "just absolutely not (a) balanced diet".
Given her age, height, weight and amount of physical activity, she needed food intake amounting to about 1,700 calories. But she was consuming only about half of the calories she required.
The severe lack of iron and zinc in her diet would also explain why her menses stopped and her hair fell out.
"Looking at the whole profile of her diet, (when) Singapore is a food paradise... it is quite sad," Ms Wong said.
Madam Thelma Oyasan Gawidan (far left), whose weight dropped from 49kg to 29kg in 15 months, said she had no way of buying food as her employers (left), trader Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon, kept her salary from
Madam Gawidan's diet would cause her to progressively lose nutrients, and become malnourished. "This should not happen in Singapore which is a developed country," Ms Wong added.
While she was all "skin and bone", it would still have taken some time before she would have become delirious.
Given that she was lucid, it would have been "torturous" for her to realise that she could not do anything about her situation, Ms Wong said.
While Lim and Chong were allowed to make an application for a "no case to answer" and ask for an acquittal before they were called to give their defence, their lawyer Tan Hee Liang told District Judge Low Wee Ping that they would not do so.
"My client is very eager to have his side of the story (told)," Mr Tan said.
The lawyer said Lim was "very distressed by the whole affair", and told the court that Lim hopes the press would cover his side of the story.
Lim, a businessman, now lives at the D'Leedon condominium at Leedon Heights.
Madam Gawidan, meanwhile, works for another employer.
The trial is continuing on Wednesday afternoon with Lim on the stand.
If convicted, Lim and Chong each face a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.
