<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Couple jailed 3 weeks for abusing maid
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent
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Yeo assaulted the maid after she knocked on her husband's door, seeking permission to go to sleep.
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<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 2 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Helmi struck the maid when she would not stop crying after being hit by Ywo. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IN APRIL last year, an Indonesian maid handed a letter to her neighbour before hurrying back to her employers' unit.
In the note - her second to the neighbour - MsSri Sinta Sunarti detailed four months of abuse at the hands of her employers.
The maid, 24, said she could not stand the torment any longer and wanted to go home.
Yesterday, her boss, Siti Aishah Yeo, and her husband, Helmi Aziz, were each sentenced to three weeks in jail on one charge each of assault.
Assistant Public Prosecutor K. Kalaithasan said that some time between December 2006 and April last year, the victim was sleeping in the couple's Ang Mo Kio flat when she felt a sharp pain, like someone had stepped on her back.
She opened her eyes and saw Yeo standing next to her. The maid did not say anything and Yeo walked to the toilet.
On another occasion, the prosecutor said Ms Sunarti had knocked on Helmi's bedroom door to ask for permission to go to bed.
But the maid was then assaulted by Yeo, the 28-year-old owner of a small beauty shop. Ms Sunarti began to cry and Helmi came out of his room and told her to stop weeping.
When she did not, he struck her on the neck, the court heard.
The maid from Central Java told The Straits Times that she had not done anything wrong and did not know why she had been abused.
The couple's lawyer, Mr G.Dinagaran, said the maid did not listen to her employer's instructions and her work was slipshod.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim allowed Yeo to begin her sentence on Wednesday. Helmi, a 31-year-old fireman, will start his sentence on Oct17, so the couple can take turns to keep tabs on their three children.
The court took into consideration two other charges against Yeo, and one against Helmi. Each could have been jailed for up to 18 months and fined up to $1,500.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Yeo assaulted the maid after she knocked on her husband's door, seeking permission to go to sleep.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=450 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 2 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Helmi struck the maid when she would not stop crying after being hit by Ywo. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=450 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>
<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 3 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Ms Sunarti wrote notes to alert a neighbour to her plight.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IN APRIL last year, an Indonesian maid handed a letter to her neighbour before hurrying back to her employers' unit.
In the note - her second to the neighbour - MsSri Sinta Sunarti detailed four months of abuse at the hands of her employers.
The maid, 24, said she could not stand the torment any longer and wanted to go home.
Yesterday, her boss, Siti Aishah Yeo, and her husband, Helmi Aziz, were each sentenced to three weeks in jail on one charge each of assault.
Assistant Public Prosecutor K. Kalaithasan said that some time between December 2006 and April last year, the victim was sleeping in the couple's Ang Mo Kio flat when she felt a sharp pain, like someone had stepped on her back.
She opened her eyes and saw Yeo standing next to her. The maid did not say anything and Yeo walked to the toilet.
On another occasion, the prosecutor said Ms Sunarti had knocked on Helmi's bedroom door to ask for permission to go to bed.
But the maid was then assaulted by Yeo, the 28-year-old owner of a small beauty shop. Ms Sunarti began to cry and Helmi came out of his room and told her to stop weeping.
When she did not, he struck her on the neck, the court heard.
The maid from Central Java told The Straits Times that she had not done anything wrong and did not know why she had been abused.
The couple's lawyer, Mr G.Dinagaran, said the maid did not listen to her employer's instructions and her work was slipshod.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim allowed Yeo to begin her sentence on Wednesday. Helmi, a 31-year-old fireman, will start his sentence on Oct17, so the couple can take turns to keep tabs on their three children.
The court took into consideration two other charges against Yeo, and one against Helmi. Each could have been jailed for up to 18 months and fined up to $1,500.
