Wheelchair-bound 80-year-old fined for burning maid with heated ladle

[Athena]

Wheelchair-bound 80-year-old fined for burning maid with heated ladle

Published on Jan 29, 2013

Maimunah Ahmad, 80, was fined $15,000 in court for maid abuse by using a heated ladle to cause a burn mark over her maid's upper right arm. -- ST PHOTO : WONG KWAI CHOW

By Khushwant Singh

An elderly wheelchair-bound housewife accidentally touched a heated pot but blamed her Indonesian maid for it. Maimunah Ahmad, 80, then turned on the stove, heated a metal ladle on the flames, and pressed the ladle on the maid's arm twice.

Miss Putri Andanari, 23, yelled out in pain. Maimunah applied toothpaste to treat the burns. However, these worsened and Maimunah applied medicated oil the next day. This worked but a district court heard that the burn marks are still visible.

The incident occurred in November 2009 at the family's Tampines flat. The following month, Maimunah hurt the domestic worker, this time by hitting her with a plastic clothes hanger and a plastic ladle. Maimunah, who pleaded guilty to hurting the maid in November last year, was fined $15,000 on Tuesday.

Miss Andanari, 26, started working for Maimunah's daughter Daliana Abdullah, 44, a property agent, in September 2009. The daughter is also facing charges for slapping the maid, pulling her hair and slamming her head against the wall.