A 30-year-old woman from Myanmar who worked as a domestic helper in Singapore was sentenced to 14 months' jail for repeatedly inserting a toddler's hand into a pot of boiling water.

However, the mother of the abused baby and the helper's former employer is dissatisfied with the sentencing and has since taken to Facebook to slam the outcome at the conclusion of the trial.

Unhappy with the verdict

The mother wrote on social media on Oct. 28 that her former helper's jail term is "miserably short".

Responding to reports that the maid had supposedly cried while being sentenced, the mother wrote it was not comparable to the anguish her baby suffered at that time at 16 months old:

"Some said she cried while hearing the given sentence. How about my precious toddler who cried her lungs out each and every time she returns to clinic to change her dressing? Each time the dressing was pulled out along with her scab, our heart bleed along with her and we cried together with her."

CNA reported that the helper had cried in court when the contents of her apology letter to both the toddler and the parents were read out in court.

Angry at defence lawyer's argument

The mother also voiced her anger at the request by the defence lawyer, Lolita Andrew, for a maximum sentence of eight months.

The mother slammed that request as unempathetic to her position, further alleging that her child had been traumatised by the incident.

As per the mother:

"May I ask how would you react if you put yourself in mine shoes? Or perhaps they have not has any child to feel the pain we underwent and still going through now?"

Mother disputed events reported by the media

The mother also took aim at what she perceived as distortion of "facts" by the media.

Some of these inaccurate depictions, according to the mother, included:

• The reporting that the family cooked chicken curry, which is something the family supposedly does not do
• The helper allegedly recommended by her agency, based on the profile and job scope, and the lack of rejection on the part of the helper about looking after the toddler
• The helper supposedly having been told by the mother herself on the first day of work that she does not need to cook when there are no other caregivers for the toddler present.

The mother also gave her own version of some other events, in what is likely an attempt to rebut the defence lawyer.

The mother claimed that she did not restrict the helper to a fixed schedule to complete her tasks and even allowed the helper to have regular phone calls back home, among other things, which the helper was thankful for.

What actually happened?

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the domestic helper's role included housekeeping, cooking and taking care of the two children, referring to the toddler and her eight-year-old elder sister.

After just two weeks of working for the family, the helper wanted a transfer to a different employer, as she claimed she did not know how to take care of the toddler.

However, after being told by her agency that she would have to incur costs in order to transfer to a different employer, she decided to continue working for the same family.

The helper also abruptly stopped complaining about stomach pains.

On Jan. 14, 2020, the toddler began crying while the helper was cooking chicken curry at that time.

This led to the helper carrying the toddler while cooking.

While she was carrying the toddler, she felt agitated, and moved the toddler's left hand towards the pot containing boiling water.

She did so two to three times, "with the knowledge that she was likely to cause hurt to the victim", according to court documents.

The helper also saw that the toddler's wrist had come into contact with the pot, and that her fingers came into contact with the hot water in the pot.

The toddler began screaming and crying, and the elder sister of the toddler came out of the bathroom soon after.

The helper told the sister that the toddler had put her hand into the pot, and the sister called her father, who instructed her to apply aloe vera and toothpaste on the wounds.

The next day, the helper repeated her request to the toddler's father that she wanted to go home or change employer.

Her request following the incident made him suspicious, and he decided to view the CCTV footage together with his wife.

They discovered that their helper deliberately dipped the toddler's hand into the pot, and confronted her with the video evidence.

She admitted that she had hurt the toddler on purpose, and the two called the police.

Argument by defence

Both The Straits Times and CNA reported the defence lawyer telling the court that the helper had worked every day of the week with no days off.

In addition, she did not own her own mobile phone and only called her family in Myanmar once, using the phone of her employer.

As for the toddler's wounds, the defence lawyer pointed out that they were not a vulnerable part of the toddler's body.

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