In Singapore, domestic worker gets eight years for forcing intellectually disabled man under her care to have sex with her

SINGAPORE, Aug 7 — Knowing that the man she cared for was intellectually disabled and would not be able to alert others of her wrongdoings, a domestic worker sexually assaulted him and tried to have sex with him.

She committed her crimes while on a video call with her boyfriend, who later used videos of the incident to threaten the victim’s family.

Today, the 29-year-old Indonesian was sentenced to eight years and 10 months’ jail for sexually assaulting a vulnerable person.

Another four similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing for the crime that the judge described as a heinous act against someone “with an intellect that renders them vulnerable”.

The domestic worker cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, along with anything that could lead to his identification.

What happened

The domestic worker was employed in March 2021 and was tasked to care for the victim and his wheelchair-bound sister.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Colin Ng told the court that the victim, now 57 years old, suffers from “intellectual disability of moderate severity and required supervision on most daily living skills”.

The domestic worker described him as someone who “behaved like a little kid”, “could not talk properly” and is “also very forgetful”, he added.

“At all material times, the accused knew that the victim suffered from mental infirmity and was substantially unable to protect himself from abuse.”

The domestic worker, who had a boyfriend in Indonesia at the time, said that she was afraid to anger the boyfriend and performed sexual acts on the victim sometime between January and February 2022 while on a video-call with the boyfriend.

On a second occasion between July and August 2022, the victim was in his bedroom when she approached him and gestured at him to remain quiet. She then pulled down his shorts and sexually assaulted him.

Then, she took him to the bathroom where she removed her pants while the victim removed his clothes.

As the victim sat on the floor, she continued to perform several sexual acts while her boyfriend was on a video-call watching.

Despite the victim gesturing with his hand that he did not want to have sex with her, she did not relent.

After the sexual acts, she warned him to remain silent and threatened to stop caring for him should he tell anyone of what had happened.

In January last year, the victim’s family members received three videos from her boyfriend on messaging application WhatsApp.

Two of the videos — one lasting about 13 minutes and another around nine minutes — showed the domestic worker sexually assaulting the victim on the two occasions. The third video showed her engaging in sexual acts with an unknown person.

The boyfriend demanded that their domestic worker return to Indonesia before the expiry of her employment contract in June 2023, and threatened to distribute the videos if the victim’s family did not comply with the demand.

The victim’s family then made a police report the next day.

The domestic worker later claimed that she had acted on her boyfriend’s instructions to sexually engage with the victim on the first occasion.

On the second occasion, she alleged that she did it again because her boyfriend had threatened to distribute the first video if she did not comply with his instructions, DPP Ng said.

‘Heinous act’

DPP Ng called for a jail sentence of between eight years and six months and nine years and six months.

“Victims with intellectual disability, such as the victim in this case, need and deserve, the fullest protection of the law,” he said.

“This is especially so when there was an abuse of position of trust by the victim’s primary caregiver, who knew full well about the victim’s mental vulnerability.”

The domestic worker apologised and said that she is remorseful, promising that she would not “make the same mistakes again”.

She also pleaded for leniency, saying that she is the sole breadwinner of her family and is supporting a child and three younger siblings.

She teared up as she finished delivering her mitigation plea.

In her sentencing remarks, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that the “heinous act” should be met with a “robust response” to protect vulnerable persons.

Reading out a long list of sexual acts that the offender had forced upon the victim, the judge said: “As uncomfortable as it is to hear this list of sexual acts in open court, it drives home that the sexual assault... was sustained and prolonged.”

The judge acknowledged that the offender’s plea of guilt spared the victim of reliving the incidents during a trial, the sexual assault was an exploitation of a vulnerable person.

“My sentence reflects the egregiousness of the crime and acts as a deterrent,” District Judge Sharmila said as she meted out the sentence.

For sexual assault with penetration, the penalty is a jail term for up to 20 years and a fine or caning.

When the act is against a vulnerable person, the offender can be given up to twice the maximum punishment. — TODAY