By Sujin Thomas
RIGHT after housewife Tay Siew Hoon got her dog to bite her Indonesian maid's thigh and finger, she sat down to watch TV in the living room of her Changi home.
The maid, now 24 and working elsewhere, ran into Tay's son's room where he and his father, Mr Kim Hua Siang, helped put a plaster on her wound.
In court yesterday, Tay's lawyer A.P. Thirumurthy used what her husband and son did for the maid to plead for a lighter sentence. 'That itself shows that they were concerned for the maid despite the dog bite,' he said.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Tse Haw pointed out that Tay, 53, was not the one who tended to the maid's injuries. 'The accused cannot take credit for the actions of her husband and son.'
DPP Lim had earlier called Tay's actions 'one of the worst cases of maid abuse'. It is also the first time a maid employer has used an animal to abuse their domestic worker.
