AT THE COURTS
Man illegally hired maid after family was barred from doing so
His wife had assaulted a maid in 2014; couple sent new maid home after police visited flat
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His family was barred by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) from hiring maids after his wife assaulted a domestic worker in 2014, but he circumvented the rules by getting a third party to do it for them.
When the authorities learnt of the ruse, Syed Mohamed Peeran Syed Ameer Hamza and his wife, Sabah Parveen, had the maid sent back to Indonesia.
Sabah, 37, and Syed, 41, were yesterday convicted over their roles in intentionally obstructing the course of justice.
Syed was also convicted over false declarations made to get the maid to work for the family. The Singaporean was sentenced to 36 weeks' jail in total.
Sabah was sentenced to three days' jail.
The court heard that Sabah, an Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, was charged in 2014 with three counts of voluntarily causing hurt against her family's domestic worker.
Her household was then placed on an MOM blacklist, which temporarily barred them from hiring maids.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En told the court that in July 2018, Syed enlisted the help of a third party to hire a maid.
The man falsely indicated in MOM's online Work Pass System that he would be the employer of one Ms Aminah, a maid from Indonesia. She goes by one name.
But it was Syed's phone number and e-mail that were submitted in the application.
The system then generated an in-principle approval.
On July 17, 2018, Ms Aminah arrived in Singapore and started working for the couple. They have two young children.
On Aug 9 that year, the third party also falsely submitted work permit declaration forms, following Syed's persuasion, in order to get Ms Aminah a work pass.
The application was approved five days later.
The ruse was discovered when Ms Aminah complained that she had not been paid for at least two months, and the authorities learnt about it.
In January 2019, after police officers visited his flat to check on the maid's welfare, Syed bought an air ticket for Ms Aminah and she left for Indonesia that very night.
Police and MOM later interviewed the couple, after which Syed attempted to leave Singapore but was stopped at the airport.
His lawyer Rachel Soh said her client had been based in Hong Kong when he hired the maid and did so as he was motivated by a "desire to provide support for his wife and children".
