A 46-year-old man repeatedly abused his domestic helper for over 16 months, kicking her on the knee, knocking her head and pulling her ear, amongst other things.

This was because he thought she was slow and incompetent in her work, and was causing him problems.

On Jan. 23, Yusni Yunos, an aircraft technician with SIA Engineering, was sentenced to four months' jail and ordered to pay the victim S$1,500 as compensation, according to CNA.

The man kicked her in the knee, then claimed it was an accident

The 27-year-old Indonesian national worked as a domestic helper for Yusni between Jan. 13, 2017 and Aug. 27, 2018, taking care of his three children and doing household chores.

However, the man felt she was slow in performing her duties, and by the second month, he felt she was incompetent in her work, and was causing him problems.

Court documents show that the man would often scold the victim in Malay and call her "stupid".

In April 2017, around three months into her job, the woman was sitting on the floor of the living room, when the man walked past her and used his leg to intentionally kick her right knee.

The woman shouted because of the pain, and suffered a "blue-black" on her right knee, although she did not seek medical attention.

Yusni then said "sorry" and "accidentally", even though the kick was intentional.

Knocked the woman on the head, claiming he was "very angry with her"

In June 2018, during the Hari Raya period, Yusni invited guests for a meal at his house.

During the meal, the victim wanted to clear an empty plate from one of the guests, but the man stopped her, and told her not to do so, as the guest had not finished eating.

Sometime later, the woman saw the guest's plate was empty again, and asked if the guest was done eating, as she wanted to clear the plate.

According to court documents, this angered the man, and he told her that he had already told her not to clear the plate.

By this time, another 29-year-old Indonesian national had been hired to replace the other woman as the household's domestic helper.

After the meal, the man sat on the living room sofa, and asked the woman and the other domestic helper to sit down on the carpet.

He scolded the woman, and used his hand to knock the top of her head as he walked past her.

This caused her to scream in pain, but she did not seek any medical attention.

Although the other domestic helper did not witness the man knock the woman's head, she heard her scream.

Yusni returned to his room, but came out a few minutes later to apologise, explaining that he was "very angry with her".

Both women decided to run away as they feared for their safety

On Aug. 25, at about 11:30pm, the woman and the other domestic helper went to sleep in their room.

At about midnight, Yusni opened their room door and scolded them for not informing him that they were going to sleep.

Court documents revealed that the two women were usually required to inform the man that they were going to bed.

The man told the other domestic helper to sleep in the living room, and continued to scold the woman in the room.

When the woman did not reply to his questions, he used his right hand to pull the woman's left ear twice, causing her to feel pain and sustain redness on her ear.

Yusni then asked the other domestic helper to return to the room, where he continued scolding both of them.

Although the other helper did not see the man pull the woman's ear, she noticed that her ear was red.

The next day, both women decided to run away from the house, as they feared for their safety.

They climbed out of a window and took a taxi to the other domestic worker's maid agency, where the police were informed.

The man should not have taken things into his own hands

According to CNA, the prosecutor asked for four months' jail to be imposed, along with a compensation order of S$1,500.

The prosecutor argued that while there were no medical reports of the injuries, there was evidence of psychological harm.

He also pointed out that the abuse was for a prolonged period, from April 2017 to August 2018.

Yusni's defence lawyer Luke Lee said in mitigation that he was concerned about keeping his job as a aircraft technician with SIA Engineering, pointing out that Yusni had three children.

Yusni must make alternative arrangements for them, Lee said, as Yusni was no longer qualified to have a maid.

According to Lee, Yusni required the maids to inform them when they went to bed so he would not disturb them if he needed to make milk for his children.

However, District Judge Sarah Tan said that although Yusni had a clean record and pleaded guilty early, he should not have taken things into his own hands, even if the domestic worker was not performing well.

CNA reported that Yusni's sentence was deferred to Feb. 20, and allowed him to make the S$1,500 compensation by Jan. 30.

The penalty for voluntarily causing hurt is a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.

If the victim is a domestic worker, penalties can be increased to up to 1.5 times of the original.

Top image from Unsplash.