SINGAPORE - An Indonesian maid working for a family in Punggol purposely tainted their drinking water and rice with her urine, saliva and menstrual blood, a district court heard on Monday (Jan 13).
The family ended up consuming the contaminated items.
Diana, who goes by only one name, believed that by drinking the water, they would agree with whatever she did and would not scold her over her performance.
The 30-year-old woman was sentenced on Monday to six months and seven weeks' jail after pleading guilty to two counts of mischief. She also admitted to a theft charge.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Angela Ang said that Diana was hired in 2017 and worked for her employer's family of six.
She was in their flat in August last year when she mixed her bodily fluids in their rice and drinking water.
Separately, she also stole more than $13,000 in total from her employer's mother over five different occasions between August 2017 and June 2018.
DPP Ang said that the 67-year-old housewife received a monthly allowance from her husband and three daughters.
The woman kept the cash in a bedroom safe and it was secured with a digital number lock.
The DPP told District Judge Sarah Tan: "The accused, who was able to access the complainant's bedroom while cleaning the house, was aware that this safe was placed in the complainant's cupboard. She therefore decided to steal from the complainant by accessing this safe.
"In order to do this, the accused began to monitor the complainant each time the complainant unlocked her iPad. By doing so, the accused managed to identify the numeric passcode to the complainant's iPad. The accused then waited until she was alone in the complainant's bedroom before attempting to unlock the complainant's safe with the same numeric passcode."
When the safe opened, she took the monies and passed them to an unknown Indonesian woman. The cash was then remitted back to their home country.
The stolen cash has not been recovered, said the DPP.
Court documents did not state how Diana's offences came to light but the housewife lodged a police report on Oct 6 last year.
For each count of mischief, Diana could have been jailed for up to two years and fined.
Offenders convicted of theft can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
