A month after she started working for the family, an Indonesian maid stabbed her elderly employer to death. She was apparently fed up of her nagging.
Maid kills employer
According to The Straits Times, the incident happened on Feb 13, 2017 at a Tampines Street 22 flat. Indonesian maid Minah had been working for Madam Tay Quee Lang, 77, and her husband, Mr Tan Hee Seng, 78.
Minah had been employed to take care of Madam Tay, who needed assistance to eat, move around and shower after a fall. On the ill-fated day, Mr. Tan had gone out for a medical appointment after feeding Madam Tay her lunch, and helping her on to her chair in the living room.
Apparently, Madam Tay kept calling out to Minah when she was having lunch. She also scolded the maid for taking too long to eat. Both maid and employer ended up arguing and raising their voices at each other.
To threaten Mdm Tay, Minah took a kitchen knife with a 22 cm-long blade, and walked towards her. Madam Tay however, remained unperturbed. She kept complaining and said she wasn’t afraid of the knife.
But when Minah held the knife near her throat, Madam Tay tried to push it away. She failed, and Minah plunged the knife into her neck. Madam Tay bled to death.
Maid jailed for 15 years
Minah then washed the blood off her fingernails and called Madam Tay’s daughter.
It was a neighbour who alerted the police, upon seeing the knife lodged in the elderly woman’s neck. When police questioned her, Minah initially lied, saying that Madam Tay had committed suicide.
On Apr 23, 2018, Minah was sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing her employer.
Judicial Commissioner Audrey Lim called the maid’s response to the nagging, “clearly disproportionate and unwarranted”.
She said, “It’s not a case where the deceased had used any form of violence or used any threat against you.”
Also READ: Singapore maid murders elderly couple
(Source: Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times)