Indonesian domestic helper Maryani Usman Utar appeared in court today after allegedly killing a one-year-old toddler placed under her care on Mother’s Day.
The 30-year-old maid was accused of causing the death of Richell Teo Yan Jia by punching the child on her neck and choking her as well. The official statement was that Maryani gripped the girl’s neck “tightly with all your strength until she stopped crying, with the knowledge that such acts were likely to cause her death,” The Straits Times reports.
She was charged with committing culpable homicide not amount to murder — not having the intention to cause death of injury likely to cause death.
Young Richelle was found unconscious by her father at home at Block 225 along Simei Street 4 on Sunday morning with purple lips as well as bruises on her neck and head. She was pronounced dead in hospital just after 10am, passing away just five days after she celebrated her first birthday.
The maid — who had worked for the family for over a year — was not at home when the toddler was found. She had reportedly been out since 8am, having her day off. She was arrested in the Marina Bay vicinity that same afternoon holding a toy doll in a pink dress, which is said to be related to the case according to Lianhe Wanbao.
