Disturbing CCTV Footage Shows Maid Beating 96-Year-Old Woman In Bed
She was jailed for 10 months on Monday.
By Sadho Ram — 07 Sep 2016, 07:17 PM
A 25-year-old Indonesian maid, identified as Murni Panengsih, who had been looking after an elderly woman for almost two years, was captured in a CCTV footage while repeatedly assaulting the 96-year-old bedridden woman at her employer's home in Singapore
On September 5, Murni pleaded guilty to five of 15 counts of causing hurt to the 96-year-old woman on 17 September last year
The ruthless assaults came to light last year on 17 September when the victim's daughter saw the maid hitting her mother while viewing the CCTV installed in the room. Following which, she confronted the maid and reviewed the past footage from the CCTV, only to discover more assaults against her mother, and lodged a police report.
Murni later admitted she had abused her employer's elderly mother since May 2014, months after she started working for the family in late 2013.
While speaking to The New Paper, the victim's daughter said, "You would never think that somebody who looks so harmless and acts so sweetly towards your mother could do such evil things behind your back." The elderly woman has since died.
While the maid was never ill-treated by her employer, according to defence lawyer Diana Ngiam — who acted pro bono for the maid — Panengsih was diagnosed to be suffering from adjustment disorder
The defence lawyer, while citing a psychiatric report by Dr John Bosco Lee, said Murni had worked for the family for about one year and 9 months from October 2013 and "did not have a single day off" and was also cut off from her family in Indonesia, including her 4-year-old son.
While she had asked her employer to allow her to return home to Indonesia, her request was denied as her bond was for two years and her employer wanted her to work until was up, according to a report by Channel NewsAsia.
The psychiatrist also found Murni had been "isolated from social, family support since coming to Singapore" and became more stressed due to the elderly woman's declining health, which increased her workload. However, it was no excuse for the maid to have reacted the way she did, and the maid accepted that her actions were "reprehensible".
Murni is reported to have said that she is "extremely sorry and extremely regretful of my actions. I beg to Ama for her forgiveness"
While she could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined up to SUSD5,000, District Judge Low Wee Ping agreed with the prosecution that a deterrent sentence is an important consideration in these cases.
Footage from the CCTV showing Murni grabbing the elderly woman's shirt and shaking her.
Image via The New Paper