Allegedly starved Filipino maid says former employers prevented her from contacting anyone else

The case between the allegedly abusive Singaporean couple and their former Filipino domestic helper carries on today. 

The maid herself, Thelma Oyasan Gawidan reportedly broke down at least five times on the witness stand as she informed the court of her ordeal, The New Paper reports. The 40-year-old mother of three claimed that her former employers — Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon — forbade her from talking to anyone throughout the employment.

They watched her every move, and kept her mobile phone and salary away from her while she was working for them between January 2013 and April last year. 

Toh Ah Choon, owner of employment agency A C Toh Enterprises also took the stand and claimed that the previous foreign domestic helper that Lim employed was also treated similarly, TODAY reports. The Indonesian helper was also given a diet of bread and instant noodles, and was forced to work only at night. She was returned to the agency after a short while. 

The inhumane diet lead Gawidan to drastically lose weight, plunging from 49kg to 29kg over the course of 15 months. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital’s chief dietitian Gladys Wong took the stand as well, noting that Gawidan’s body proabably experienced a lack of iron from the diet, which explains why she stopped having her period. 

The trial continues in court.