SINGAPORE – Tormented for months, a maid was forced to perform multiple acts of self-harm, including pouring scalding hot water on herself and drinking dirty water mixed with detergent. Ms Phyu Phyu Mar also did not receive her monthly salary of $700 throughout her employment with her abusers, and her weight plummeted from 50kg to 38kg because of a lack of food. On Friday (Jan 18), District Judge Olivia Low found Linda Seah Lei Sie, 39, and her husband Lim Toon Leng, 44, guilty of abusing the Myanmar national following a 15-day trial. Seah, who manages Anew Me Beauty Aesthetic salon at The Centrepoint shopping mall in Orchard Road, was convicted of five assault charges and one count of causing the maid to drink the tainted water. The judge found her interior designer husband guilty of one count of assault. The Singaporean couple, who have a five-year-old daughter, committed the offences in their Punggol Walk flat between August and October 2016. Deputy Public Prosecutors Sarah Shi and Jotham Tay said in their submissions that Seah employed Ms Phyu Phyu Mar from February to October that year. The DPPs added that the maid received her full salary only in November that year when the Ministry of Manpower intervened. Delivering her verdict on Friday, the district judge said: “Linda and Lim sought to portray themselves as considerate and concerned employers. But this could not be further from the truth.” Ms Phyu Phyu Mar testified during the trial that Seah made her pour… [Read full story]
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