6 months’ jail for maid who let boyfriend see as she changed diapers of elderly man during video call
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On Sept 15, the domestic helper pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism and was sentenced to six months’ jail.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
Follow topic:
- A domestic helper in Singapore pleaded guilty to voyeurism after showing her 92-year-old charge's naked body to her boyfriend via video call.
- The helper received a six-month jail sentence with enhanced penalties due to the victim's vulnerability, needing assistance with daily living.
- CCTV footage revealed the incident; the helper admitted the victim would be angry if he knew. His family contacted the police.
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SINGAPORE – A domestic helper let her boyfriend see the naked body of a 92-year-old man in her care during a video call while she was changing diapers for the elderly man.
After viewing closed-circuit television footage of her actions, the elderly man’s family members called the police.
On Sept 15, the helper pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism and was sentenced to six months’ jail. She cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim’s identity.
The elderly man has a brain condition which affects his mobility, and needs help with daily living activities such as going to the toilet. Doctors also found he could have cognitive impairment.
The Indonesian, 44, was handed enhanced penalties as her offence was against a vulnerable victim, defined by law as someone with a disability who is unable to protect themselves from abuse.
She lived with the elderly man, his wife, who suffers from dementia, and another domestic helper in their flat, Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan told the court.
On July 27, 2024, the helper picked up a video call from her boyfriend while she was cleaning up the elderly man after he had soiled his diaper.
She placed her mobile phone on top of a cupboard about 1m away from the elderly man, with its lens facing his exposed body.
During the video call, which lasted at least five minutes, the helper pointed to the victim’s naked body and smiled.
Though she did not record the call, DPP Tan said observing the victim through a video call was akin to a video recording.
“The accused admitted that had the victim known that he was being observed, he would have been angry,” said the prosecutor.
The man’s family members reviewed closed-circuit television footage of the home on the same day and discovered what the helper had done.
DPP Tan said the family members did not confront the helper as she spoke in an abrasive manner. Instead, they took her to her employment agency and called the police.
Asking for between six and eight months’ jail for the helper, the prosecutor said: “While there is no premeditation here, the degree of callousness and insensitivity is very high... There was no regard (for) the impact of her actions on the victim and (the victim’s) family.”
The helper, who did not have a lawyer and attended court via video link from her place of remand, wept and asked for leniency.
Through a translator, she said she is a single parent with two sons and is the sole breadwinner of her family.
For committing voyeurism, she could have been jailed for two years, fined, or both.
