Maid jailed 9 months for hitting newborn thrice on his back

Singapore — An Indonesian domestic helper who hit her employer’s month-old baby three times on his back said that she did so to “vent her stress”.

Lana Ngizatul Mona, 26, was sentenced on Wednesday (Oct 21) to nine months in jail after pleading guilty to one count of ill-treating the baby.

Lana was caught after the infant’s mother viewed closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident.

The mother was in her bedroom at around 7.30 am on April 30 this year when she heard her baby crying loudly in the living room. She checked the CCTV footage and saw Lana hitting her son on his back three times. The first time was with a wrist, causing the baby to cry. She then hit the baby on the back twice with her fist, causing him to cry again.

“All three blows were forceful and had audible impact,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei told the court, according to a report in straitstimes.com. The baby sustained a bruise on his right shoulder from the blows.

Lana had started work on Feb 26 and had been there for only two months. She told investigators that she had hit the infant due to stress.

On Wednesday, DPP Tan urged District Judge Salina Ishak to sentence Lana to at least nine months in jail.

For ill-treating a child, an offender can be jailed for up to eight years and fined up to S$8,000. /TISG