A 47 year old woman had been sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail on Monday 16 December 2019, and fined $800 for assaulting her own father and causing hurt to her brother and maid, according to The Straits Times.
It was reported that Bibianna Lim Poh Suan had attacked her 81-year-old father because he had stopped her from hitting her Filipino maid, Ms Theresa Elevencione Gamuzaran.
As told to Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Zhou Yihong by Ms Gamuzaran, she was in the kitchen when Lim confronted and then slapped her. This took place on Feb 28 last year.
Lim’s father heard some commotion outside of his bedroom and stepped out, only to see the maid clutching her ear. That led him to think his daughter had slapped her and he tried to break the fight.
Lim, a property agent, kicked her elderly father in the stomach and bit his left forearm for doing so. Her father was left with a bite mark on his arm and experienced mild tenderness to his body.
During the assault of her father, Lim even damaged the maid’s mobile phone by tossing it into a washing machine.
Lim’s mother witnessed this situation and testified in court. Both parents’ identities were not disclosed.
Maid “lied and manipulated her parents”
Lim revealed to the DPP in her submissions that there were two disagreements that took place between her and Ms Gamuzaran, who “lied and manipulated her parents.”
She noticed her maid’s change in demeanour after the trial, after giving false evidence to the police and in court, just to get her in trouble with the law, according to the DPP.
Lim alluded it to the disagreements they had as she was initially “polite, cordial and pleasant” to her during the trial.
Further details of the disagreements were not revealed.
The maid had suffered hearing loss in her left ear after being confronted by Lim and slapped on her face multiple times. Her condition has since improved.
“No intention to harm”
When it came to biting and kicking her father, Lim did not deny it. She claimed that it was simply acting out of “reflex”, with no intention to harm the elderly man.
After hitting her father, she almost drove off if not for her brother, Winston, who tried to intervene.
As told to DPP Zhou by Winston, Lim accelerated and to avoid being hit, he ‘jumped on the car bonnet’ and ‘rolled off the side’. Still, he felt the impact of being hit in the leg as he felt pain on his knee while driving to CGH (Changi General Hospital).
DPP Zhou added that Lim was sarcastic to her brother. She lowered the car window and laughed, as if to say “you can’t get me”.
In addition, in Lim’s defence, according to her lawyer, Tan Hee Joek, she never “touched” her maid, even denying that her car touched her brother.
For assaulting her own father, Lim could face a jail term for up to two years and fined up to $5,000. She could also have been jailed for up to a year and fined up to $5,000 for causing hurt to her brother by performing a rash act.
Lim had intended to appeal against the Judge’s decisions, said Mr Tan to the court on Monday.
Source: The Straits Times
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