SINGAPORE — A domestic helper who punched, slapped and bit her 101-year-old bedridden charge, then taped the woman’s mouth to suppress her screams of pain, has been sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail.
Aye Aye Aung, a 32-year-old Myanmar national, had been caring for the victim, who is on a feeding tube, for about three years. She pleaded guilty on Thursday (March 28) to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt.
On Feb 27 this year, the 43-year-old granddaughter of the victim received a WhatsApp message from her aunt, who said that she would be sending videos capturing Aung physically assaulting the woman.
This included closed-circuit camera (CCTV) footage dated Feb 23 and Feb 27 this year. The footage of around half an hour from Feb 23 showed Aung punching and pressing the elderly woman’s face.
She also punched her waist, which caused the woman to wail in pain, and tied her hands to the bed railings, Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Chye Jer Yuan told the court.
Aung punched the woman’s head and stepped on her legs, then slapped her leg while putting on the woman’s diapers.
She then restrained the woman by kneeling on her chest with her full body weight placed on her, causing the elderly woman to again wail in pain.
The domestic helper slapped the victim’s buttocks and legs, before taping her mouth to stop her from wailing in pain.
APP Chye said that the elderly victim was so afraid of the helper at this point that she raised her hands to defend herself.
Aung then pressed her face and knelt on the old woman’s chest, slapping her face repeatedly while trying to get her to keep quiet. The woman was repeating the phrase “very painful” in Cantonese.
She repeatedly slapped the woman’s face while changing her feeding tube, and the sounds of the slaps were audible in the footage, APP Chye told the court.
In footage dated four days later, Aung was seen pressing down on the elderly woman’s shoulder hard, such that she started to wail in pain.
She then stepped on the woman’s thigh to restrain her while slapping her face and arm, causing the woman to again shout “very painful” repeatedly.
Aung continued to slap and pull the woman’s arm in a forceful manner, causing the woman to shout in pain.
To try and get her to stop wailing, Aung then punched her head and slapped her mouth, before stepping on her chest to prevent her from moving.
She also bit the hand of the woman and slammed it against the bed railings, before continuing to punch her hand and slap the woman’s face.
The helper then pulled off the surgical tape she had used to tape the woman’s mouth and punched her head, continuing her assault for around half an hour.
The victim’s daughter, who lived with her and Aung, was unaware of these actions as she was not at home.
After the granddaughter saw the CCTV footage sent by her aunt, she went to her grandmother’s house and spotted a wound on the woman’s forearm.
To avoid causing any alarm, the granddaughter did not confront Aung, but called the police on the next day after discussion with her family.
She reported that she had seen the helper abusing her grandmother on CCTV footage on two separate occasions. The granddaughter had called the police without Aung’s knowledge.
The grandmother was later taken to the hospital for medical assessment.
A Feb 29 physical examination at Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s emergency department revealed that the woman suffered bruises on her arms, chest, abdomen and thighs and had dried broken skin on her arm.
An assessment by hospital doctors stated that the woman was bedbound, minimally communicative and on nasogastric tube feeding.
APP Chye sought 24 weeks’ jail, stating that there was “no reason” for Aung to behave that way and that it was not a “one-off” slap or punch but a “series of acts” that lasted for around half an hour on two occasions.
While the injuries suffered were not “severe”, he said that the victim was unable to protect herself and communicate what happened, and as such the offences may not have come to light if not for the CCTV footage.
For each charge of voluntarily causing hurt, Aung could have been sentenced to up to three years’ jail or fined up to S$5,000, or have received both punishments.
As Aung’s offence was against a vulnerable person, she could have also faced an enhanced punishment of up to twice of the maximum punishment for her offence.
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