Heng Kwee Huang v Public Prosecutor
| Jurisdiction | Singapore |
| Judge | Tey Tsun Hang |
| Judgment Date | 20 May 2002 |
| Neutral Citation | [2002] SGDC 122 |
| Published date | 19 September 2003 |
| Year | 2002 |
| Citation | [2002] SGDC 122 |
| Court | District Court (Singapore) |
Judgment
GROUNDS OF DECISION
The accused, aged 35, is a primary school teacher with some 12 years’ service, a mother of triplets - three female toddlers. She faced four charges of domestic maid abuse of a young Indonesian domestic maid, Yunmarmi, aged 23 (then). They were for punching Yunmarmi’s left eye, causing a clear black eye, pulling her hair and banging her head against a table, scalding her right thigh, and slapping her face.
2 The medical report of Dr Cheong Ee Cherk (‘Dr Cheong’) of the Emergency Department, Tan Tock Seng Hospital noted that Yunmarmi had suffered numerous injuries including a bruised inferior orbital margin of her left eye, a bruised chin, tenderness of the occiput, tenderness of the upper/mid thoracic spine, scarring of the right thigh and bruises on the left calf. The most serious injury was the hot water scalding wound on Yunmarmi’s right thigh, over a dispersed but extensive area, as shown in a photograph produced (P9). Dr Cheong also confirmed that the scalding was a few days’ old at the time of examination. Photographs produced also showed very clearly that Yunmarmi suffered a black eye (P7).
3 At the end of the trial, it is my finding of facts that Yunmarmi’s testimony has been consistent with the medical report on her injuries. Yunmarmi was forthright, forthcoming and consistent in her account of events. The defence on the other hand, made changes in its position as the trial proceeded. In the second tranche of the hearing days, the accused herself suddenly asserted that two of the charges could not have been committed. This was despite the fact that critical questions pertaining to the assertions had never been put to Yunmarmi during the cross-examination. The accused and her husband also gave conflicting evidence. The accused had proven to be unreliable. I found her guilty and have convicted her on all the four charges.
4 In mitigation, the learned defence counsel highlighted that the deaths of the accused’s two close relatives, her grandmother in September 1994, and her grandfather in February 1994, had an adverse effect on her. At the same time, the accused and her husband had also tried, without success, for children for a number of years after marriage. Their decision to go for a series of fertility treatments proved to be draining financially, physically and emotionally.
5 The accused gave birth to triplets in December 1997. Caring for the triplets proved to be a nightmare for the accused. She found herself unable to cope with all the stress and anxiety. A psychiatrist report tendered in court, showed that the accused had been suffering from severe depression since the birth of the triplets. The consultant psychiatrist, Dr Pauline Sim (‘Dr Sim’) said that the accused was of a high suicide risk and required continual treatment and psychological counselling.
6 Taking into account the sentencing principles, the sentencing precedents laid down by the Honourable Chief Justice and the accused’s condition, both medical and emotional, I sentenced the accused to a total of 10 months’ imprisonment and a total fine of $3,000, in default, two weeks’ imprisonment. While it was certainly at the lower end of the bracket for such offences and was more lenient than what I would normally have imposed, I have ensured that it was not too lenient or pushing towards being manifestly inadequate.
7 Dissatisfied with both the conviction and sentence for the four charges, the accused filed a notice of appeal in Magistrate’s Appeal No 39/2002/01. The accused has paid the fine of $3,000. She is out on bail of $10,000.
The Charges
8 The four charges proceeded with at the start of the trial were as follows:
(DAC 50563/2001)
on or about the 24th day of July 1999, at or about 10.00 p.m. at Blk 627 Yishun Street 61 #03-77, Singapore, did voluntarily cause hurt to one Yunmarmi, a domestic maid employed to work in your household, to wit, by using your right hand to punch her on the left eye and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 323 read with Section 73 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.(DAC 50564/2001)
on or about the 24th day of July 1999, at or about 10.00 p.m. at Blk 627 Yishun Street 61 #03-77, Singapore, did voluntarily cause hurt to one Yunmarmi, a domestic maid employed to work in your household, to wit, by pulling her hair and banging her head against the table and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 323 read with Section 73 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.(DAC 50565/2001)
on or about the 25th day of July 1999, at or about 11.30 p.m. at Blk 627 Yishun Street 61 #03-77, Singapore, did voluntarily cause hurt to one Yunmarmi, a domestic maid employed to work in your household, by means of heated substance, to wit, by means of hot water on the right thigh of the said Yunmarmi, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 324 read with Section 73 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.(DAC 50566/2001)
on or about the 29th day of July 1999, at or about 10.00 a.m., inside the lift of Blk 839 Yishun Street 81, Singapore, did voluntarily cause hurt to one Yunmarmi, a domestic maid employed to work in your household, to wit, slapping her on the face with your right hand and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 323 read with Section 73 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.
9 In short, the four charges proceeded with were for the alleged incidents which took place on 24, 25 and 29 July 1999 at the accused’s apartment in Yishun, and the last charge, in a lift at the apartment of the accused’s mother, also in Yishun.
Trial for More Than One Offence
10 I allowed a trial for all the four charges. As provided for under Section 170 of the Criminal Procedure Code:
170. Trial for more than one offence
(1) If in one series of acts so connected together as to form the same transaction more offences than one are committed by the same person, he may be charged with and tried at one trial for every such offence.
a trial for all the four charges is appropriate in the circumstances: Chin Choy v PP [1955] MLJ 236, Tan Teik Leong v R [1956] MLJ 14, PP v Ridzuan Kok bin Abdullah [1995] 2 MLJ 745. The offences were alleged to have taken place in a certain sequence and at around a period of time from 24 to 29 July 1999, at the accused’s home (except for the last charge, in the lift at the apartment of the accused’s mother) and by the accused. In the circumstances, the learned defence counsel, Mr Masih, quite rightly did not see it appropriate to challenge the trial for more than one offence.
The Background of the Accused’s Household
11 To set the context of the case, I shall first elaborate on the background of the accused’s household, starting with the accused and her family. However, it must be made clear at the outset that this did not and could not go towards either the Prosecution’s case or the defence’s, one way or the other.
12 The accused, in cross-examination, revealed that before the toddlers were born, she could be described as an independent career woman. The triplets are her first children, and were born in December 1997 after a Caesarian operation. The accused took a whole year’s leave from her teaching career in 1998 to look after the babies. She only returned to full-time teaching in January 1999.
13 She had a demanding curriculum, having to teach 7-year-old primary school children English, Mathematics, Music, Science and some times, Physical Education.
14 In January 1999, when she resumed full-time teaching, she joined a new primary school, with new pupils, new colleagues, and a new set-up.
15 The accused had a maid during the period of January to April 1999, but later sent her back to the maid agent, as the accused found that the maid could not cope with the workload. Yunmarmi came in April 1999 as a replacement maid.
The Shuttling Between Two Households
16 At the relevant time, the three toddlers were about 18 months’ old. Two of them stayed with the accused. Another one was taken care of by the accused’s mother, full-time round the clock.
17 The daily routine began in the morning at about 9.30 a.m. when the accused brought the two toddlers staying with her, as well as Yunmarmi, from her apartment to her mother’s place nearby in Yishun.
18 The accused would then go to school. The arrangement was for Yunmarmi to look after the triplets at the apartment of the accused’s mother. The accused’s mother would act as a supervisor to ensure that the chores and duties are properly carried out by Yunmarmi. Yunmarmi did not cook at the apartment of the accused’s mother, as the accused found Yunmarmi incapable of meeting her cooking expectations.
19 During the day, the accused’s younger sister, Emalyn would go to her mother’s apartment for lunch. Her son would join the triplets and play with them at her mother’s apartment.
20 In the evening, the accused and her husband, a regular officer at the SAF, would return to her mother’s apartment for dinner. They would bring the two toddlers and Yunmarmi back to their own apartment after dinner. The third triplet would be left with the accused’s mother.
21 In a sense, the apartment of accused’s mother functioned as a babysitting centre, with lunches and dinners provided for the accused, her husband, her sister and her sister’s son.
The Accused Juggling Many Roles
22 The accused said she felt bad about having to burden her mother, who is above 50 years of age, with the three toddlers. In her evidence, she said that her mother could not see her handling the triplets, and thus took over the babysitting of the second-born child, full-time round the clock.
23 Her husband, a regular officer with the SAF, had to do overseas tours about three to four times a year, each time lasting up to a few weeks. He told the Court of his habit of sitting in a sofa in the living hall, relaxing himself with reading a book or a novel with the television...
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