Singaporean Haslinda Ismail, 34, and four of her family members had been convicted of a slew of offences related to the abuse of a family friend who is diagnosed with intellectual disability.

Filed an appeal

On Feb. 3, Haslinda was sentenced to 8½ years' jail after pleading guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing hurt and one count of twisting the victim's toe with a pair of pliers until it fractured, as reported by The Straits Times.

She was out on S$30,000 bail and was supposed to begin her sentence on March 1.

But on the same day she was supposed to start her sentence, Haslinda filed an appeal against her 8½ years jail term, according to Today.

She will remain out on bail pending her appeal.

Other family members were also convicted

Haslinda's family members were also involved in the case.

According to ST, her older sister, Hasniza Ismail, was sentenced to three years' jail and was ordered to pay S$1,000 in compensation to the victim.

Haslinda's two brothers were jailed for two months and four weeks, and eight months respectively. Her husband had pleaded guilty in 2020 to one count of assaulting the victim and was sentenced to three weeks' jail, according to CNA.

The last family member that has yet to be dealt with is her mother Hasmah Sulong. Hasmah faces the most serious charges, according to ST.

She faces 17 charges, including three counts of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.

The maximum punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means is life imprisonment.

Details of what happened

Moved into the family's flat in early 2016

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the victim, Nursadiqah Sanusi, was a secondary school friend of Haslinda's brother, and eventually became acquainted with Haslinda and her family as well.

In early 2016, she ran away from her home and moved into Haslinda's flat.

While there, she was given a set of rules to adhere to, such as sleeping on a mat in the living room and paying Haslinda's mother S$150 per month for laundry.

Performed sexual acts on Haslinda's husband

Nursadiqah ended up getting a job at a fast food restaurant.

Haslinda's husband, Hany Aboubakr Abdelkarim Abdelfattah, was employed as a sales assistant at a supermarket in Woodlands, near Nursadiqah's workplace.

The two of them subsequently became close. Sometime between May and June 2016, Nursadiqah performed sexual acts on Hany at a staircase landing of Woodlands Mart carpark.

Haslinda confronted Nursadiqah a few days later. She scolded her and slapped her face.

On Haslinda's directions, Hany pointed his middle finger at Nursadiqah and slapped her twice on her face, causing her bodily pain.

The other family members were also present during this confrontation.

The start of the abuse

After that day, the other members of the family started engaging in various acts of abuse against Nursadiqah.

This included assaults with deadly weapons, such as pliers to twist Nursadiqah's toes, a hammer to knock out her teeth, a baseball bat to hit her head and splash boiling water on her.

On the eve of Hari Raya Haji in 2017, Haslinda and Hany moved into a new apartment.

Haslinda brought Nursadiqah to the new flat to make her help with the family’s Hari Raya Haji preparations.

They arrived at the flat around 10pm that day. Haslinda then made Nursadiqah stand in the kitchen throughout the night.

She kept watch on Nursadiqah to make sure that she did not use the toilet or sleep that night.

At around 11am the next morning, Nursadiqah was unable to control her bladder and urinated on the kitchen floor.

Tied her hands and legs with cable ties

Haslinda was furious and hit Nursadiqah's body using a broomstick with such force that the broom broke into two.

She then used to a hanger to hit Nursadiqah's arms. She also rolled up a wet towel to hit her with it before using cable ties to tie up her hands and legs.

Nursadiqah was then forced to stand in the kitchen in her soiled trousers with her arms and legs tied up.

Haslinda's family members arrived for the Hari Raya celebrations later that day at around 3pm.

The family members saw Nursadiqah in the kitchen with her hands and legs tied up, but did nothing.

Hany was also present in the flat the entire time, and was aware of how Haslinda treated Nursadiqah. However, he did not intervene.

Urinated on a packet of hor fun and made victim eat it

When Hasmah, Haslinda's mother, arrived at the flat, she had brought two packets of hor fun for Nursadiqah.

However, Haslinda threw away one of the packets. She proceeded to urinate into the other packet and demanded that Nursadiqah eat the soiled food.

As she was very hungry, Nursadiqah took a few bites of the soiled hor fun.

Hany was in the kitchen at the time and had observed Haslinda urinating into the packet of hor fun, which Nursadiqah was made to eat.

Later that day, Haslinda told Hany to slap Nursadiqah in front of other members of the family.

After Hany slapped Nursadiqah once on her face, Haslinda demanded that Hany slap Nursadiqah again, which he complied.

Haslinda only released Nursadiqah from her cable ties after the rest of the family left the flat in the evening.

Court documents did not reveal how the family's offences came to light, but according to ST, Nursadiqah was finally rushed to hospital in a "near-death state" on Jan. 16, 2018.

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Top images by Mothership.