Singapore court slashes jail term of maid abuser in half after finding no link to victim’s blindness

By Louisa Tang A Singapore woman found guilty of physical abusing a domestic helper had her jail term reduced on appeal on Monday after a High Court judge found “no causal link” between the assault and the maid’s injuries. For two years, Suzanna Bong Sim Swan abused her domestic helper about two to three times a week, before finally hitting her on the cheek three times with a glass bottle on May 17, 2015. Bong, now 47, was found guilty last year in a district court of a single charge of “causing hurt” and was sentenced to one year and eight months’ imprisonment. She was also ordered to pay the victim, Than Than Soe, S$38,540 (US$28,308) in compensation. The victim, who is now 33, testified in court in 2017 that she suffered a number of injuries from the assaults, including being blinded in one eye. Domestic helper whose employer ‘tried to separate her from baby’ sues government Upon sentencing Bong, district judge Carol Ling took Than’s injuries into account when deciding the degree of physical harm that had been caused. Bong appealed against her conviction, sentence and the compensation order. On Monday, High Court judge Chua Lee Ming ruled that there was no “causal link” between the assault on May 17 and the maid’s injuries, upholding Bong’s conviction but accepting her other appeals. He said the only injury Bong definitely caused in that attack was a bruise on Than’s face – the earlier alleged assaults were not taken into account. Singapore detains three domestic workers over Isis-related terrorism financing Justice Chua reduced Bong’s sentence to eight months in jail and reduced the compensation that she was ordered to pay the maid to S$1,000. He dismissed the prosecution’s appeal against Bong’s sentence too. Prosecutors had sought three years’ jail and a higher compensation order of S$82,879, while Bong’s lawyers from the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme sought the maximum fine. The maximum penalty for causing hurt is up to two years’ jail and a fine of up to S$5,000. Employers of domestic helpers, or those in their household, are liable to one-and-a-half times the punishment – resulting in up to three years’ jail and a fine of up to S$7,500. Domestic worker’s testimony During the eight-day trial in the State Courts, Bong claimed that she never physically abused Than and denied hitting her with the bottle. Than testified that Bong had repeatedly abused her over two years, starting in 2013 just four months after she starting working at Bong’s parents’ flat in Yishun. Bong then began physically attacking Than by hitting her in the eye, rubbing curry on her face and pulling her hair, the maid said. Exploitation of Filipino domestic workers ‘widespread’ in the US The abuse escalated in early 2015 after Than moved into Bong’s flat in Sengkang, she testified, saying that she would not be given regular meals and had to sleep on her sarong on the floor. She was never paid her salary throughout her employment and was misled into extending her contract, she said. Than further testified that she used to have perfect eyesight, but began experiencing blurred vision around January 2014. This culminated in Bong striking her with the glass bottle in May 2015, after smelling the medicated oil that the maid had used to ease her headache. This prompted Than to call the police. A senior consultant from the National University Hospital found afterwards that Than had retinal detachment and a macular hole in her left eye, cataracts in both eyes and vitreous haemorrhage in both eyes. Causal link missing In Monday’s ruling, Justice Chua said that District Judge Ling should not have taken Than’s existing injuries into account when deciding the degree of physical harm Bong had caused to the maid. He ruled that it was “more probable” that they were pre-existing injuries caused before May 17, 2015. “There must be a causal link between the act and the injury in question. If there is, it is not an excuse that the injury was made worse by a pre-existing condition. [But] there is no evidence that the May 17 incident caused any of the four injuries referred to,” he told the court. ‘I was spat on, peed on, spanked’: Filipino nurse on working in Japan The hospital doctor had found that the retinal detachment likely happened at least three weeks or even months before Than was examined on June 1. The cataracts were not likely to have occurred recently, either. “I have full sympathy for the victim who has suffered such horrific injuries. However, [Bong] was not charged with any of the previous assaults, and in principle it would be wrong to punish her as if she was so charged,” Justice Chua said. Nevertheless, he agreed that Bong’s use of the glass bottle to “hit a vulnerable part of the body” was an aggravating factor. Bong will begin serving her sentence on November 18. Read the original article at Today Online