WHEN the affair with his maid turned sour, she disappeared.
That was when police officer Sheik Faisal Shaik Abdul Kader, 34, broke the law.
He searched the online police database at his office to see if any police reports involving his Indonesian maid, 20-year-old Erma Pujiyatun, had been made.
Yesterday, Sheik Faisal, who held the rank of Station Inspector, was jailed two weeks on three charges of unauthorised online search for information.
He pleaded guilty to the charges, under the Computer Misuse Act, on June 30. Another 11 similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Davyd Chong said that when Sheik Faisal realised Ms Erma had not returned home on Nov 22, 2009, he went back to his office to trace his missing maid on the police computer.
He used an online system known as Focus (Frontline Officer Computerised System) that allows authorised police officers to lodge reports and carry out online searches lodged by members of the public.
An investigation officer with the commercial crime squad of the Bedok Police Division, he knew that the system would show if a police report involving his missing maid had been lodged.
He spent the next 12 minutes making the online search, using various time ranges and permutations of the maid’s name and in different categories.
Molest
He found five reports and one of them was lodged by Ms Erma, who had accused him of molest.
DPP Chong said the maid made the false allegation following the fall-out from her affair with Sheik Faisal. She was subsequently given a stern warning for making a false report in lieu of prosecution.
The court heard that Sheik Faisal went to the investigation officer for Ms Erma case and admitted that he had used the online system to trace his maid’s location.
His wife, parents and several friends and relatives accompanied him to court yesterday.
The slim woman looked calm as she sat next to her husband, who appeared relaxed before the court session started.
But she broke down after the judge passed sentence. Sheik Faisal’s mother also burst into tears.
The couple have two children aged 10 and 7. When approached, his family members declined comment.
Sheik Faisal, who joined the police force as a constable in 1993, has been suspended and is no longer doing investigative work. His job scope now encompasses only administrative duties.
He first came under the spotlight as the investigation officer in charge of a case involving Fong Quay Sim, 69, a retired hairstylist who was convicted of poisoning her husband of 30 years. Fong, who was jailed a year, is appealing against her conviction and sentence.
Her lawyer had applied for Sheik Faisal’s charges to be tendered as new evidence as part of her appeal hearing to show that the cop was not credible. She had claimed that Sheik Faisal had coerced her into making a confession.
But the appeal judge dismissed the application, deeming the charges against Sheik Faisal irrelevant.
Fong had turned up in court without fail each time Sheik Faisal’s case was mentioned. She was there again yesterday.
Under the Computer Misuse Act, a person who uses a computer to secure illegal access to any program or data can be jailed two years and fined $5,000.
