Helper, 44, throws lotion bottle at S'pore employer's bedridden mum, says she was 'noisy' & disturbed her sleep, gets 16 weeks' jail

A 44-year-old foreign domestic helper in Singapore, who threw a bottle of lotion at her employer's bedridden mother, was sentenced to 16 weeks' jail on Oct. 1, 2026.

Eka Yulianti Suryanto had become frustrated by the 70-year-old woman, whom she claimed disrupted her sleep.

Investigations later found that she had also stolen two pieces of gold jewellery from her employer and pawned them for S$2,880.

To date, no form of restitution has been made.

Eka had pleaded guilty to one count of theft, as well as one count of committing a rash act.

Helper said the elderly woman was "being noisy"

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Eka had worked as a domestic helper for her employer for about 11 years at the time of the offences.

She shared a room with another domestic helper and her employer's mother, and her duties included cleaning the household and caring for her employer's children.

The employer's mother has Parkinson’s disease and would sometimes make involuntary noises as a result of the condition.

Eka became frustrated by the noises in November 2025, as she felt they were disrupting her sleep.

When she could no longer tolerate the noise, Eka would throw household items — either an air freshener or a body lotion bottle — in the elderly woman's direction.

The items would make a loud noise when they landed, after which the elderly woman would remain quiet.

In the early hours of Jan. 22, 2026, Eka again became frustrated and threw a bottle of body lotion at the older woman.

The bottle struck the elderly woman's lips.

Eka did not check on her after throwing the bottle and instead went back to sleep.

The following morning, the second domestic helper woke up and began changing the elderly woman’s diaper.

She then noticed that the woman’s lips were bleeding and bruised, and took a photograph of the injury.

When asked about it, Eka admitted that she had thrown a body lotion bottle at the elderly woman as she was "being noisy".

Neither domestic helper told anyone about the incident immediately, and the elderly woman also did not receive any medical attention.

The second helper was initially hesitant to tell her employer what had happened as she was afraid of Eka.

Three days later, however, on Jan. 25, 2026, she decided to inform her about the incident while Eka was out of the house on her day off.

Stole jewellery and vouchers

Investigations later found that Eka had also stolen jewellery and supermarket vouchers belonging to her employer at various points in 2025.

Among the items were two pieces of gold jewellery, which Eka pawned for S$2,880.

She would later say she had remitted the money back to Indonesia to deal with financial issues there.

The employer had noticed that the two items were missing and asked Eka about them.

However, Eka denied seeing the jewellery and told her that she or her daughter might have misplaced them.