A minimart owner will be serving quite some time in jail for her prolonged series of inhumane physical abuse dealt out to her Burmese domestic helper.
District Judge Christopher Goh — maintaining that the offences were deliberate and malicious — sentenced 33-year-old Jayanaraman Suganthi to serve 15 months in jail and to pay some $3,650 in compensation to her victim Naw Mu Den Paw, TODAY reports.
In the span of four months between July and October 2013, when Naw Mu Den Paw ran away, Suganthi dished out abuse including punching, bruising, and even using household items such as a broom handle and kitchen scissors to assault the 24-year-old Myanmar national on multiple occasions.
Notable incidents included the time when the cruel employer pressed a hot ladle against Naw Mu Den Paw’s skin, as well as the incident in which she wielded a metal pestle and hit the maid as she was not frying vadai “fast enough”.
The maid was never provided medical help for her injuries and was ordered to wear clothes to cover up visible marks of abuse, of which there were plenty. Doctors found that she suffered burns and injuries on her back, head, eyes and the back of her ears.
In court, the District Judge chided Suganthi for her profound lack of respect for the victim’s welfare and treating Naw Mu Den Paw more like “chattel” than a human being.
“It will be a sad reflection of our society if we allow such acts to go unpunished,” he remarked.
Photo / Brian Turner via Flickr
