Jail for S'pore helper who served food & drinks mixed with menstrual blood to employers

She believed that this would make the family treat her better.

Andrew Koay | January 14, 2020, 02:51 PM

Hoping to make her employers more agreeable and less critical of her work performance, a domestic helper mixed her saliva, urine, and menstrual blood into their food and drinks.

She also stole more than S$17,000 from the elderly woman she worked for, including breaking into a safe where the money was kept.

On Monday (Jan. 13), the 30-year-old Indonesian who goes by only one name — Diana — was sentenced to a jail term of six months and seven weeks.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of mischief and one count of theft, according to CNA.

A fourth charge was taken into account in sentencing.

Nasi Kangkang

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Diana started work for a three-generation family of six people (the complainant, her husband, her daughter and son-in-law, and two grandchildren) sometime in 2017.

In August 2019, she mixed her urine, saliva, and menstrual blood with some water in the family's kettle.

This was done with the knowledge that the family would drink from the kettle, which they did.

She also mixed her urine, saliva, and menstrual blood with rice that was to be served to the family.

The rice was also consumed by them.

Court documents show that Diana had done so believing that it would cause the family to "agree with whatever (she) did" while also stop them from reprimanding her for her work performance.

The concoction and its purported effects bear similarities to the urban legend of Nasi Kangkang — which according to local folklore is a potion with sinister effects.

Stealing money

Two years prior, in August 2017, she had also started stealing money from the grandmother.

The lady received a monthly allowance of S$3,300 from her husband and three children.

She kept it in a safe in her bedroom which Diana had access to during the course of her work. She managed to unlock the safe by observing the lady as she unlocked her iPad.

Diana managed to discern the numeric passcode used for the device, which was the same code used for the safe.

She then accessed the safe on five different occasions from August 2017 to June 2018.

The cash was then passed to an unnamed woman, who helped to remit it back to Diana's family in Indonesia.

Divorcee and sole breadwinner

CNA reported that in court, the domestic helper — who was unrepresented — said that she had admitted her wrongdoing and apologised to her employers "from the bottom of my heart".

She also said that she was a divorcee with one child and that her mother was "ill and aged".

Diana added: "I am the breadwinner. I am staying in remand for two months and I cannot work."

For theft in dwelling, she could have been jailed up to seven years and fined.

For each charge of mischief, she could have been jailed up to a year, fined or both.

Top image from Ke Vin via Unsplash