Maid gets jail for biting baby who would not sleep

SINGAPORE: A maid who was hired to care for twin babies bit one of them out of frustration when the toddler would not go to sleep.

Masita Khoridaturochmah, 33, was sentenced to six months’ jail on Tuesday (Apr 4) for one charge of ill-treating the infant by wilfully causing her unnecessary physical pain.

Details of the victim and the location were redacted from court papers due to a gag order protecting the victim’s identity.

The court heard that Masita, an Indonesian national, started working for the victim’s mother from 2021.

Her primary duties included taking care of her employer’s twin infant daughters, as well as household chores.

At about 5pm on May 26, 2022, Masita’s employer left home to fetch her elder daughter from preschool.

Masita was left at home with the twin infants, who were aged 14 months at the time.

She tried putting them to sleep, but became frustrated with one of the babies after about half an hour as she felt the victim was delaying her from cooking dinner.

At about 6.30pm, she bit the baby once on her left forearm, leaving a bruise.

When the child’s mother returned home about half an hour later, she went to cook dinner for her children and fed them.

MOTHER SPOTS BRUISE

While preparing the victim for bed, she saw a bruise in the shape of a bite mark on the baby’s arm.

The woman suspected that Masita had bitten the victim and questioned her about it. Initially, Masita denied doing so but eventually admitted to her act.

She knelt down and apologised, and her employer reported the matter to the police.

The prosecutor said the victim was particularly vulnerable and especially young, and Masita had abused the position of trust she was placed in.

He said Masita had caused the victim harm “wilfully”, and that the offence was “gratuitous”, arising from the fact that she was frustrated simply because the victim was not falling asleep as she wanted.

Masita had clearly bitten the victim to vent her frustration, and the bruise was visible to doctors even the next day, said the prosecutor.

Defence lawyer Kyle Chong asked for two months’ jail, and the judge asked him to explain this as it was a low figure.

Mr Chong said this was a one-off incident that his client deeply regrets.

“The harm that was inflicted on the victim was a superficial injury. It was a bruise and there was nothing further beyond it,” he said.

District Judge Tan Jen Tse said it is undisputed that general deterrence is the dominant sentencing consideration in these sorts of cases.

“For non-fatal child abuse cases involving physical violence, the court imposed terms of at least six months. Since then, parliament has also seen fit to double the penalty for Children and Young Persons Act cases of this nature,” he said.

He noted that Masita had committed the offence out of frustration in a one-off case of abuse involving a single act, and displayed remorse soon after.

He granted Masita’s request to defer the jail term for a week to put her affairs in order, including contacting her family in Indonesia over arrangements for her return after her imprisonment.

For ill-treating a child by wilfully causing her unnecessary physical pain, she could have been jailed for up to eight years, fined up to S$8,000, or both.