SINGAPORE - A couple who abused their Indonesian domestic worker, primarily by slapping her on several occasions, were sentenced to jail on Thursday.
Singtel customer service officer Khairani Abdul Rahman, 42, was jailed a total of four weeks on three charges.
She was convicted of slapping Ms Solichah, then 26, twice on March 24, 2013; twice sometime in August 2011; and using a plastic stool to hit her on the head two times on Dec 25, 2012.
She began her sentence on Thursday while her husband, Rosman Anwar, 47, a senior logistics officer with Certis Cisco, will start his two-week jail term on July 1. He is out on a $5,000 personal bond and his passport has been impounded.
The couple, who were convicted last month after a seven-day trial, have three school-going sons.
Rosman was given two weeks' jail after he was found guilty of twice slapping Ms Solichah and pulling her hair at his home in Sengkang East Road on March 24, 2013; and twice sometime in August 2011.
District Judge Ng Peng Hong ordered Rosman to pay compensation of $1,520 to the victim, who is now working for another employer, for her loss of salary for four months.
Ms Solichah had testified that the couple started abusing her one month into her job in August 2011. They would slap her whenever she made a mistake.
She left the flat on March 25, 2013, reported the abuse to the maid agency, and made a police report.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Amanda Chong Wei-Zhen said the couple had abused their position of authority and robbed her of her dignity.
The victim said her employers had told her that "they have the right to slap my face, to push my head and to scold me, because they are paying my salary" and that "the agent had given them rights to slap me because they are my employers".
Ms Chong said the couple also threatened to send the victim to Batam to "sell her body".
"This malicious threat frightened the victim and prevented her from reporting the abuse at an earlier stage. All these instances evince an appalling disrespect for a fellow human," she added.
