KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 - The Sessions Court here today sentenced a former flight attendant to 18 years in prison for scalding her Indonesian housemaid with hot water and an iron in one of the country’s worst cases of maid abuse. Sessions Court Judge Akhtar Tahir found Yim Pek Ha guilty of three counts causing hurt to Nirmala with a hot iron and hot water at Villa Putera, Jalan Tun Ismail here in January, March and April 2004.
Yim was sentenced to 18 years' jail for each of the three counts, the sentences to run concurrently. She was acquitted and discharged of a fourth charge of causing hurt with a metal cup at the same place on May 17 2004.
Akhtar ordered Yim to start serving the sentence immediately.Bonat had said she was beaten and burned for mistakes she made during her five months in Yim’s home. She said that on one occasion her employer took a hot iron and pressed it against her breasts after complaining that clothes had not been properly ironed.
The case sparked national outrage that focused attention on the plight of Indonesian migrant domestic workers after Malaysian newspapers published photographs in 2004 of a then 19-year-old Bonat showing burns and bruises over much of her body.
Akhtar rejected claims by defence lawyers that the injuries were self-inflicted and said he wanted to impose a “deterrent sentence” to show that “sadistic behavior ... cannot be tolerated in a civil society.”
Yim, 40, was charged on three counts of causing injury to Bonat. She had faced prison sentences of up to 20 years on each count.
Yim sobbed uncontrollably and hugged her family after the judge read his verdict.
Yim’s lawyer, Jagjit Singh, said they would appeal the verdict. He called the sentence “excessive” because there was “no loss of life, no disfigurement, no scars” in the case.
Bonat did not attend the hearing because she had returned to her hometown in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province.
Yim’s lawyer, Jagjit Singh, said they would appeal the verdict. He called the sentence “excessive” because there was “no loss of life, no disfigurement, no scars” in the case.
Bonat did not attend the hearing because she had returned to her hometown in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province.
Shanti Utami Retnaningsih, an Indonesian Embassy official, said the verdict should send a “very strong message to other employers not to abuse their maids.”
Indonesian officials and human rights groups have urged Malaysia’s government to strengthen laws to protect some 300,000 Indonesian domestic workers.
Indonesian diplomats say at least 1,500 maids seek help at their offices across Malaysia each year. Most complain of unpaid wages, but some also claim they were physically abused. - AP - TMI
1 comment:
The disparity in sentencing of judges is so glaring. Judge Mabel Muthiah sentence a man to 90 years in jail for rape yesterday in Tangkak. A policeman was sentence to 8 years jail for killing his girlfriend and stuffing her in TV Box.
The man was unrepresented. Taxpayers are going to look after him. Maybe payment of restitution to the victim would be better. All her resoning was wrong. It is not due to rape of under aged girl but rape with violence that should be mention. Kidnapping etc.
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