A woman was sentenced to jail for four months yesterday after she burned her domestic helper's arm with a hot iron to punish her for ironing clothes at too high a temperature.
Sentencing Chan Mei-ying, 51, on one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm, Deputy Magistrate Daniel Tang Siu-hung said he wanted to send out a message that employers could not use violence against their helpers.
Similar cases had drawn jail terms of more than a year, so a custodial sentence was unavoidable, he said.
Chan, who pleaded guilty, said she would no longer hire a domestic helper and promised not to reoffend.
Earlier, the court heard that Chan had been under severe pressure caring for her mother, who had cancer, and her sister, who was clinically depressed after getting divorced.
The helper, Wulandari, was ironing clothes in her employer's apartment at Sceneway Garden in Lam Tin on the afternoon of June 13 when Chan complained that the iron was too hot.