SINGAPORE - An accountant who abused her maid and got her to perform humiliating acts on camera was fined more than $12,000 on Monday.

Permanent resident May Thu San Kyaw Nyein, 34, began abusing the 25-year-old woman from Myanmar barely a week into her employment in October 2012. After accusing her of not washing a prayer vase and milk bottle properly, she ordered her to do 80 squats.

Later Nyein, also from Myanmar, slapped the maid's head and pulled her hair at her home in Tanglin Road.

A Community Court heard Nyein would film the helper on CCTV and later show her footage of things she had apparently done wrong.

On one occasion she told the victim to pull down her shorts and scratch her groin - then threatened to upload the footage online if she went to police.

The distressed maid eventually complied but the clip - which showed Nyein laughing and clapping her hands - was never uploaded.

Nyein was fined a total of $12,500 after admitting three out of five charges.

Her lawyer S. S. Dhillon said she had been suffering from major depression and that a psychiatrist had said that there was a causal link between her mental condition and the offences she committed.

District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said: "The acts of the accused there are particularly reprehensible and appalling in nature."

Nyein could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined up to $7,500 for causing hurt. For using criminal force, she could have been jailed for up to three months and/or fined up to $1,500; and for criminal intimidation, up to two years and/or fined.