SINGAPORE: A Singapore court jailed a couple on Monday for starving their Filipino domestic helper, a case that highlighted what rights groups say is a common complaint in the wealthy city-state.

Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, 40, weighed just 29.4 kg in April 2014 after being given too little to eat for about 15 months, prosecutors said.

She was given two or three slices of plain white bread and one to two packets of instant noodles for breakfast, while for her second and last meal of the day she was given five or six slices of plain bread, prosecutors said.

Lim Choon Hong was jailed for three weeks and fined $7,200, while his wife, Chong Sui Foon, got three months with no fine. They had both pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors said they would appeal. The maximum penalty is 12 months imprisonment and a S$10,000 fine.

“I accept that... you are remorseful and that you did not intentionally seek to starve your maid,” Judge Low Wee Ping said.

Defence counsel Raymond Lye said his clients had no intention to cause harm. The more common cases of domestic helper abuse were of “physical assault, which are intentional offences”, he said.

“Clients, they feel a sense of relief. They were hoping to commence their jail term but in light of the appeal by the prosecution, that will have to be delayed,” Lye said.

In her defence, Chong had said she suffered from an eating disorder when younger and had been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder as an adult, media reported. The judge said there was no link.

The couple paid the domestic helper, who now works for another employer, S$20,000 to settle civil claims, prosecutors said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017