Domestic helpers film TikTok videos, neglect elderly and child at Bukit Batok playground

Singapore – Five foreign domestic helpers were spotted neglecting their duties in caring for the elderly while they filmed TikTok videos.

A group of domestic helpers at Bukit Batok Street 25 were filmed dancing for TikTok videos at a playground, leaving the young and elderly under their care unattended, reported Chinese newspaper Lianhe Wanbao report on Saturday (Apr 10).

Wanbao reported that the incident happens repeatedly, where the group would gather from Monday to Friday at Block 289C. Four of them would dance while the last one filmed the others with a phone.

Based on the videos shared to the publication, a wheelchair-bound elderly man, another man in crutches and a young boy in pyjamas playing at the playground were left unattended while the five women busied themselves for TikTok.

According to a resident, the domestic helpers would meet in the morning and the evenings. Another resident told Wanbao that he once saw one of the elderly men yelling at the domestic helper that he needed to go to the bathroom.

However, the helper insisted he hold it in. When the elderly man could not do so, the domestic helper brought him home grudgingly.

Wanbao reached out to the elderly man and his domestic helper named Siti. The 25-year-old confirmed that she would meet with the others whenever she brought her employer’s father to and from the nursing home.

The domestic helper also admitted that she would sometimes be too engrossed in their dancing and neglect her responsibilities.

When Ms Siti’s employer, Mr Dong, heard about the incident, he arranged with the maid agency for a replacement.

“I always to remind her to keep an eye on my father. I never expected that she would do this and betray our trust,” said Mr Dong.

In Jan 2021, a separate incident involving a domestic helper filming herself for TikTok while she bathed an elderly man sparked outrage online. The woman was arrested for voyeurism./TISG

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