Maid gets more than 8 years' jail for sexually abusing intellectually disabled man

SINGAPORE — A maid who performed sexual acts on a 57-year-old intellectually disabled man was sentenced to eight years and 10 months' jail on Aug 7.

The 29-year-old Indonesian, who claimed she had committed the acts under duress from her boyfriend in Indonesia, pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual assault involving penetration of a vulnerable person.

Four other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

There is a gag order on the identities of the victim and the offender.

In sentencing the woman, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that while sexual assault is a heinous act in any circumstance, it is worse when "such acts are perpetrated against individuals with a mental infirmity that renders them vulnerable and unable to protect themselves from abuse".

"Such offences demand a robust response that underscores the courts and society's collective commitment to protecting those who cannot fully protect themselves," she added.

After highlighting the actions inflicted on the victim, the judge said: "I have spelt out in explicit detail what you did to the victim because as difficult and uncomfortable as it may be to hear this in open court, these raw facts are confronting and drive home the point that the sexual assault here involved a series of highly intimate acts and was sustained and prolonged."

Judge Sharmila said she was constrained from imposing caning, since the law does not allow female offenders to be caned.

Earlier in proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Colin Ng said the maid had been employed to work in the victim's household in March 2021.

[[nid:695207]]

Apart from caring for the victim, she also cared for his wheelchair-bound sister.

DPP Ng said the victim suffered from intellectual disability of moderate severity and required supervision on most daily living skills. He relied on the maid for his day-to-day needs, including requiring her help to shower.

On Jan 8, 2023, the victim's family members received three videos from an unknown person via WhatsApp — two showing the maid performing sexual acts on the victim. One was about 13 minutes, while the other was about eight minutes.

The other showed the maid engaging in sexual acts with an unknown man.

The person who sent the family the videos threatened to distribute them, demanding that the maid return to Indonesia before her contract expires in June 2023.

Shocked after seeing the videos, the family members confronted the maid.

She initially denied that she was the woman in the videos, but after much probing, she eventually admitted that she had performed sexual acts on the victim.

The victim's 53-year-old sister lodged a police report on Jan 9, 2023.

"The victim's family members were concerned with the existence of the videos and afraid that the unknown person would continue to threaten them," said DPP Ng.

Investigations revealed that sometime between July and August 2022, the victim was in the bedroom when the maid approached the fully clothed victim, performed a sex act on him, while gesturing to him to remain quiet.

The maid then tried to get the victim to penetrate her, but was unsuccessful.

She also performed other acts.

[[nid:694376]]

DPP Ng said: "After the sexual acts, she warned the victim to remain silent and threatened to stop looking after him if he told anyone about the sexual acts."

The prosecutor added that the maid had known that the victim suffered from mental infirmity and was unable to protect himself from abuse.

She had also observed that the victim behaved like a "small kid", and that he could not talk properly and was also very forgetful.

The maid claimed that the person who had threatened the victim's family was her boyfriend in Indonesia, and that she had acted on his instructions to perform sexual acts on the victim.

She would get on a video call with her boyfriend while performing the acts.

After the offences came to light, the victim was assessed by a doctor from the Institute of Mental Health, who said the victim lacks full capacity to give consent to sexual acts.

Those found guilty of sexual assault involving penetration can be jailed for up to 20 years, fined and caned. The punishment is double if the victim is a vulnerable person.

[[nid:694544]]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.