MATT DRUDGE // DRUDGE REPORT 2002�
Woman jailed 5 years for biting off Indonesian maid's nipple
Mon Mar 18 2002 19:35:01 ET
Singapore (dpa) - A Singaporean who bit off the nipple of her Indonesian maid was sentenced
to five years in jail in the stiffest sentenced handed out for maid abuse in the city-state, news
reports said Tuesday.
District Judge Wong Keen Oon said repeatedly that biting the 19-year-old woman's breasts
until one nipple fell off was ;obviously aimed at inflicting the most extreme form of
humiliation on the maid''.
In the decision published in The Straits Times, Wong rejected the argument that chronic
depression led 30-year-old Chow Yen Ping to commit cruel acts of which she was not aware.
Kusmirah Mujadi, who would have difficulty breastfeeding on one side in the future, also has
permanent scars all over her body from burns and cuts, Wong said.
The maid is now under the care of the Indonesian Embassy. The court heard testimony that
the abuse took place from March to October 2001 at Chow's flat.
Chow, who worked as a customer relations officer at a private hospital, would flare up and
turn violent when she was unhappy with Kusmirah's work, the court was told.
Wong said Monday that half the sentence stemmed from the most brutal of Chow's 10
offences, repeatedly biting Kusmirah on the breast and nipple in September.
On other occasions, Chow placed a heated metal rack from the oven on the maid's wrist,
stabbed her thighs with a pair of scissors, used the back of a chopper to hit Kusmirah's head
and scratched her face with a knife.
Wong noted reports from two psychiatrists showed that Chow was not of unsound mind when
she committed the offences and was well aware of what she was doing although she suffered
from depression.
Chow turned the maid into a ;victim whom she had almost complete authority over'' for
eight months, Wong said.
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