SINGAPORE - A maid assaulted her employer’s elderly mother, who has severe dementia and is non-communicative, inflicting bruises on her hand.
The prosecution said Indah Nur Wahyuni’s attack was unprovoked, and had occurred despite her employer treating her well.
The Indonesian maid did not provide any reasons for assaulting the 85-year-old victim in a Bedok Reservoir Road flat in March.
Indah, 35, was sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to an assault charge on Tuesday.
In January, the victim’s daughter employed Indah, who had received training at her agency on how to care for young children and senior citizens.
The daughter was with her mother at around 8.30pm on March 8 when she noticed bruises on the back of the elderly woman’s left hand.
She immediately confronted Indah who initially denied hitting the victim.
When she said she would take her mother for a medical check-up, Indah finally admitted that she had earlier struck the woman’s hand.
The daughter then watched closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage taken inside the flat and saw Indah abusing her mother from 7.53pm to 8.01pm on March 6.
Among other things, Indah used her hand to hit the victim’s back and left hand.
The daughter also viewed footage recorded on March 7, which showed the maid using her right hand to push the mother’s forehead.
Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Lydia Goh told the court that the CCTV footage traumatised the daughter, who immediately contacted the maid’s agent.
She told the agent that she no longer wished to employ Indah, and he took her back to the agency the next day.
After the daughter alerted the police, officers arrested Indah on Aug 29.
On Tuesday, APP Goh urged the court to sentence Indah to between 10 and 12 weeks’ jail.
She said: “The accused knew the victim was suffering from a severe stage of dementia and... was non-communicative and substantially unable to protect herself from physical abuse.”
The level of cruelty displayed by Indah towards the vulnerable victim was deplorable, she added.
