Singapore Maid Sentenced To Jail For Biting Baby Who Refused To Sleep

When the toddler wouldn't go to sleep, a maid who was hired to watch the twins bit one of the infants. And is now serving jail time; here's what happened.

Singapore Maid Jailed For Biting Baby

Pixabay

Masita Khoridaturochmah, 33, received a six-month prison term on Tuesday (April 4) for one count of intentionally inflicting the infant with needless physical pain.

Due to a gag order protecting the victim's identity, information about the victim and the location was redacted from court documents. Masita, an Indonesian national, reportedly began working for the victim's mother in 2021, according to testimony given in court.

Her main responsibilities were taking care of her employer's twin infant daughters and doing housework.

On May 26, 2022, at around 5 o'clock, Masita's employer left the house to pick up her older daughter from preschool. The twin infants, who were 14 months old at the time, were left with Masita at home alone.

She attempted to put them to sleep, but after about a half-hour, she lost patience with one of the infants because she thought the victim was keeping her from preparing dinner. She bit the infant once on her left forearm around 6.30 p.m., leaving a bruise. About thirty minutes later, the mother of the child arrived home and went to prepare dinner for them.

Mother noticed the bite mark on the baby's arm

The mother noticed a bite-shaped bruise on the infant's arm as she was getting the victim ready for bed. Masita was questioned about the incident because the woman thought she might have bit the victim.

Masita initially denied doing so but eventually acknowledged her behaviour. Her employer called the police after she bowed down and apologised. The prosecutor claimed Masita had abused her position of trust despite the fact that the victim was particularly young and vulnerable.

According to him, Masita hurt the victim "willfully," and the offence was committed because she was upset that the victim wasn't nodding off as quickly as she would have liked.

District Judge Tan Jen Tse observed that Masita had committed the offence out of annoyance in a singular instance of abuse involving a single act and had shown regret shortly after.

He agreed to Masita's request to postpone her sentence for a week so she could organise her affairs, including speaking with her family in Indonesia to make plans for her release after being imprisoned.

Unsplash

She could have received a sentence of up to eight years in prison, a $8,000 fine, or both for intentionally inflicting needless physical pain on a child.

What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments.

For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.