Malaysian Woman Handed 8 Years’ Jail for Maid Abuse
Indonesian domestic worker Siti Hajar says she was tortured by her Malaysian female employer for three years, describing in an interview being beaten with a cane and doused with boiling water. (AFP Photo/Saeed Khan)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A Malaysian court sentenced a woman to eight years in prison on Thursday for scalding her Indonesian housemaid with hot water and assaulting her with scissors and a hammer.
The case was one of several involving the abuse of Indonesian domestic workers that strained ties between Indonesia and Malaysia last year, causing Indonesia to stop supplying new maids to its neighbor.
Hau Yuan Tyng, a 44-year-old single mother of two, pleaded innocent last June to charges of assaulting Siti Hajar Sadli — in one case allegedly using hot water; in another, a hammer; and in a third, a pair of scissors.
A Kuala Lumpur district court convicted her on Thursday but allowed her to remain free on bail pending an appeal, said her lawyer, M. Manoharan. She had faced a maximum penalty of 43 years in prison.
Siti Hajar, 34, ran away last June after working for Hau for three years in a luxury condominium. Photographs of her reddened, scalded body were widely publicized, sparking anger in Indonesia, whose President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged to seek justice for her.
Some 230,000 Indonesian maids work in Malaysia. Hundreds of them complain to the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur every year of unpaid salaries, overwork and sometimes physical abuse.
Associated Press
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