The Intermediate Court yesterday sentenced an Indonesian maid to a year’s jail for physically abusing a four-year-old child.
Sriyani, 42, pleaded guilty on June 22 to the charge of assaulting her employer’s son, who was also living with autism.
On handing the sentence yesterday, Judge Pengiran Masni binti Pengiran Haji Bahar said that her decision reflects the seriousness of the offence and to mirror zero tolerance of any sort of child abuse, nevermind one living with autism.
The defendant’s lawyer Pengiran Khairul Nizam bin Pengiran Haji Mohd Yassin, pleaded for the court’s leniency before the decision was made, citing that his client had family and other issues.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Raihan Nabilah binti Haji Ahmad Ghazali said the June 19 incident was captured on CCTV installed at the victim’s home.
The defendant was feeding the victim, who vomited his food, and led her to hit the child. The defendant then roughly took the victim off the baby chair, sat him on the floor and wiped his face with a tissue.
The victim’s parents lodged a police report the same day, which led to the defendant’s arrest on the following day. – Fadley Faisal
