Singaporean jailed for abusing helper who jumped from window to flee torture

A Singaporean aircraft technician who physically abused one of his two domestic workers on multiple occasions had created such an oppressive working environment that they both felt the need to escape. The last straw for the two Indonesians, Nenti Rusnianti, 27, and Rani Nurhayati, 29, came on August 26, 2018, when they failed to inform Yusni Yunos, an employee of SIA Engineering Company, that they were going to sleep. After scolding the pair, Yusni, 46, ordered Nurhayati to step out of the room before he proceeded to abuse Rusnianti for not answering his questions by pulling on her ear repeatedly until it became red. It was not the first time that Rusnianti had been subjected to Yusni’s physical abuse during her 19 month-long employment at his Punggol flat. After this incident, and fearing for their safety, the domestic workers decided that they needed to escape immediately. A few hours later, at 2am on August 27, they climbed out of the window of the ground floor unit and eventually made their way to Nurhayati’s maid agency for help. On Thursday, Yusni was sentenced to four months’ jail in the State Courts after he pleaded guilty to three charges of voluntarily causing hurt to Rusnianti. Six similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. Helper dipped baby’s hand in hot pot so that ‘she can go home’ District Judge Sarah Tan also ordered the father of three young children to compensate Rusnianti by paying her S$1,500 (US$1,111). Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee told the court that Yusni had hired Rusnianti on January 13, 2017, to look after his children, and to take care of household chores. “At the beginning of her employment, (Yusni) felt that the victim was slow in performing her duties,” said Ee. “By the second month, he felt that she was incompetent in her work and was causing him problems.” He added that Yusni would often scold Rusnianti in Malay, and derided her by calling her stupid. According to court documents, Yusni had planned to send Rusnianti back to Indonesia in May 2018, and had hired Nurhayati in June that year as a replacement. Singapore jails helper for mixing menstrual blood into employer’s food In one of the instances of abuse highlighted by Ee in court, he said that Rusnianti was sitting on the living room floor sometime in April 2017 when Yusni walked by and intentionally kicked her on her right knee. Yusni said “sorry”, indicating that it was accidental even though it was later revealed that he intended to do that. Rusnianti suffered from bruising on her knee, but did not seek medical attention. In a separate incident, Yusni had invited some friends over for a meal to celebrate Hari Raya (Eid) in June 2018. During the meal, Rusnianti wanted to clear a guest’s empty plate but was told by Yusni not to do so as the guest was not done. Sometime later, Rusnianti noticed that the same guest’s plate was empty again, and she asked if she could clear it – a request that angered Yusni. Singapore’s migrant workers crave a safe space to gather on day off After his guests had left, he ordered Rusnianti to sit on the floor while he sat on a sofa to berate her. When he was finished, he got up to leave. But as he walked past her, he hit her on the head, which caused Rusnianti to scream out in pain. Yusni later apologised to Rusnianti, and said he lashed out because he was angry with her. While the details were not read out in court, Yusni’s charge sheet also showed that he had once used a fork to hit Rusnianti on her left thigh. In pleading for a lighter sentence for his client, defence lawyer Luke Lee said that his client had lost his self-control due to his anger. However, Ee objected to this line of reasoning. He said that if that were the case, many maid abusers would be justified in losing self-control whenever they became upset. Starved, beaten with hammer: worst domestic worker abuse cases “The court should hold that employers should exercise self-restraint whenever they are upset,” he said. “He had created an oppressive environment for the victim and the witness [Nurhayati].” District Judge Tan agreed. “Even if a maid was not performing well, the accused ought not to take things into his own hands,” she said. “Insofar as the accused said he lost control, he certainly has lost it quite a few times given the nine instances in the charges against him.” The judge allowed a request by Yusni to settle his personal affairs – mainly informing his employers that he has been sentenced to jail, and looking for someone to take care of his children. The man’s wife works as a schoolteacher. Yusni will begin serving his sentence on February 20. In the meantime, bail of S$10,000 (US$7,410) was granted by the court. Read the original article at Today Online.