17 May 2010
SOURCE: The Straits Times
AN INDONESIAN maid who threatened to kill her employer's eight-month-old son was given the minium two years' jail on Monday for extortion.
Nurhasanah, 29, admitted to putting her employer in fear of death of her son at the Jurong West Street 42 home on Nov 10 last year.She had pressed a pair of scissors against the child and threatened to kill the baby if her 34-year-old employer refused to send her home immediately.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Edmund Lam said Nurhasanah, who started working for the family in July last year, had asked to be sent home three times before the incident as she missed her home and her children.
That evening, the DPP said the employer was doing some household chores when Nurhasanah pressed the pair of kitchen scissors against the back of the infant she was carrying and made the threat.Nurhasanah took her employer's jacket to cover her hand and conceal the scissors that was held against the baby's body before the two women and child left for the airport by cab.
There she disposed of the scissors but continued to use the jacket to cover the child.It was only after the ticket had been bought and the maid had entered the controlled immigration area that she handed over the child to her employer in exchange for her passport.
The employer alerted a Certis Cisco officer before getting a Garuda Airline counter staff who stopped the maid from boarding the flight. Nurhasanah could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.