By Victor Isiguzo
House maids everywhere go through all sorts, but one of the worst, is to be made to strip and shower before boss’ family members, have your breasts pinched and your private parts kicked.
But a 31 year old madam did these and more to her hapless 18 year old maid, the consolation being that the law is now about to take its course on the woman in question, Rosdiana Abdul Rahim .
The accused admitted on trial April 2 to seven charges, including criminal intimidation, insulting a woman’s modesty, using criminal force, voluntarily causing hurt and failing to give her domestic worker adequate daily rest.
The Indonesian victim, who is now 21, took the stand on Thursday morning and gave her testimony through an interpreter, crying often at various points, reports CAN international
About December 2017 when the abuses took place, Rosdiana allegedly poured powder onto her maid’s face, causing it to enter her eyes, pinched her breast, kicked her twice in her vagina area, and closed the cupboard door on her forearm.
Other misdeeds alluded to her were intimidating the maid by threatening to hurt her family in Indonesia should she dare to do anything, outside a hotel in Singapore. She is also accused of failing to grant the maid adequate rest daily – a contravention of the conditions she had to comply with as an employer of a domestic worker.
The maid, then 18 first arrived in Singapore for her first stint as a domestic worker with a mindset to “change her life”.
Well, in a way, she began changing her life as she claimed that she was paid S$600 a month but made to sleep at various points on a carpet or outside a toilet, without a pillow or blanket.
She also slept under a cupboard, and initially used her own batik cloth as a blanket, but Rosdiana threw this away as she said “it was smelly”.
“Ma’am didn’t believe that I showered daily. I said I bathe every day but she didn’t believe me. She asked me how I bathe and shower myself.”
Once, Rosdiana allegedly pulled her arm and pushed her into a shower in the master bedroom.
“She used the shower head and turned on the water. I was still wearing my clothes at the time.Then she took the shower head and sprayed water all over me”, before asking the maid to take off all her clothes.
“I removed my clothes. I was crying inside the shower,” said the victim, her voice breaking and tears falling from her eyes.
She said she removed all her wet clothing, and then saw Rosdiana’s husband enter the room and the maid tried to cover herself. However Rosdiana simply told her, “No, my husband will not be interested”.
“I was afraid that she might threaten my family at home. After I finished bathing I wanted to change my clothes so when ma’am asked me how do I dry myself, I showed her with my hand.
“Ma’am will not let me change my clothes in the (bathroom). I had to change my clothes outside the bathroom while the husband was just outside there in the living room, he was in a position where he was able to see,”
“I was feeling afraid. I was scared. I feel humiliated,” said the maid, when asked how she felt.
She did not tell anyone about the incident then as she was “ashamed”. “I thought I lost my own value or moral,” she added.
Earlier that morning, Rosdiana had been angry with the maid, who had eaten a portion of maggi mee.
“She wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone (and) she tried to rip open my clothes until some of the buttons were opened,” said the maid, adding that other family members, including the grandmother, Rosdiana’s elder sister and the children watched without saying a thing.
Rosdiana then pulled on the maid’s bra from behind and under her blouse, causing a hook to fall off. The maid resisted by hunching over.
A few days later, before Rosdiana brought the family to Conrad Centennial hotel for an event, the employer had put baby powder all over the maid’s face, until “my eyes were hurting”, said the maid.
Rosdiana forbade the maid from removing the baby powder, and allegedly threatened her family, saying, “If you remove powder on your face, your parents when you go back will not be there for you.”
The maid believed that Rosdiana would harm her parents as the employer had once told her that her brother was married to someone from the same province in Indonesia.
The family of five stayed in the same hotel room for three days, where the maid was made to sleep on the floor in strong aircon without bedding or covering.
“I tried to take the bath towel but ma’am did not allow me. Because it was so cold I wanted to use it,” said the maid.
The day the family returned home, Rosdiana allegedly became infuriated after the maid failed to unpack the family’s suitcase fast enough.
“She scolded me then she pull me to dining table and scolded me all the way…. She ripped my clothes, at the time I was wearing a T-shirt, she pulled and ripped it. I tried to cover myself then she pinched my breast so I tried to cover my body.”
