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Maid who slapped, threatened girlfriend over secret phone jailed
Wan Ting Koh
·Senior Reporter
Wed, 6 October 2021, 2:43 PM
A woman holding a knife. (PHOTO: Getty Images)
SINGAPORE — Upset that her girlfriend was supposedly keeping a secret phone, a woman took her knife from her employer’s kitchen to confront her fellow maid.
Calastre Elena Canto, 44, was jailed for three months on Wednesday (6 October), after she pleaded guilty to one count of criminally intimidating her 42-year-old girlfriend.
One count each of causing hurt to the victim by slapping her face in the same incident and possessing an offensive weapon were considered for sentencing.
The women from the Philippines were working for different employers and staying in separate areas. They had known each other for five years.
On 2 August this year, the women argued about a secret phone allegedly belonging to the victim. Calastre became angry that the victim was allegedly keeping secrets from her. She told the victim that she would speak to her at the victim’s employer’s house. Their relationship had been strained by then.
Before leaving, Calastre took a silver kitchen knife from her employer’s house, intending to scare the victim with it. She hid the knife in her pants.
When Calastre reached the victim’s residence, the victim went outside to speak to her.
Calastre then confronted the victim about her phone and slapped the victim on both cheeks. She then took out the knife from her pants, intending to cause alarm to the victim.
The victim, who screamed throughout the confrontation, caught the attention of an unknown male passerby who told Calastre to stop. Calastre told him to mind his own business.
Meanwhile, the victim fled and ran into her employer’s house. Fearing that she would get into trouble with the law, Calastre threw the knife into a cluster of potted plants. The knife was later recovered by the police.
In mitigation, Calastre said that she was “sorry to the people of Singapore” through a Tagalog interpreter.
“I have no intention to hurt my girlfriend using the knife (and) no intention to kill her. I still love her in spite of all the things I have done. I am very remorseful and I am asking for forgiveness. I have regretted all these things,” said the maid, who appeared in court via videolink.
For criminal intimidation, she could have been jailed up to two years, or fined, or both.
