By Benson Ang
The Electric New Paper, October 22, 2008
HE had just stepped out of his condominium when he checked his handphone and saw he had three missed calls.
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| PHOTO ILLUSTRATION |
They were from a neighbour, living opposite his unit.
Said Mr Brendan Tan, 42, a civil servant: 'When he couldn't get through, my neighbour messaged me to tell me he saw my maid enter my home at 1am.'
Mr Tan then called his neighbour the next day, who said that at 1am he had heard noises outside Mr Tan's flat.
Mr Tan recalled: 'He (my neighbour) looked through the peephole, and saw my maid looking under my door, checking whether there were lights on.
'It was dark, apparently, so she opened the door and was followed by a man with long hair, wearing a football T-shirt.'
Mr Tan said his phone was on silent mode, so his neighbour's calls went unanswered.
Mr Tan didn't immediately confront his maid, but told his wife, who was working half-day, to go home and keep the maid, a 20-year-old Indonesian, busy.
Mr Tan lives on the 12th storey of a condominium in Bukit Batok, with his wife and son. The incident happened about a month ago.
According to Mr Tan, his wife went down to the condominium manager, requesting to see the CCTV recording for the previous night. But, it seemed the CCTV at the lift lobby was not working.
When he reached home at 5pm, he questioned his maid.
'She admitted she got to know the man six months ago at a friend's birthday party, and they had gone out together.
'When we asked how many times she had asked this man to enter our home, she initially said '10 times'. But when we probed further, she admitted that it was more than 20times in six months.
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| MADE TO LEAVE: A handout photo of Mr Brendan Tan's maid, whom he sent packing after finding out about her affair. |
'Normally, I sleep at midnight. She probably waited until I fell asleep, then brought this guy in, apparently at 1am or so.'
Mr Tan made a police report, saying the man was usually let in after midnight, would stay for three to four hours in her room, and leave before dawn.
The maid probably entered the estate through side-gates, which were unmanned by security guards.
'All she has to do is press the button, and the gate will open, so they can take the lift upstairs,' Mr Tan said.
The man is said to be a 24-year-old from Sabah working in a factory nearby.
Mr Tan said: 'She also admitted having once invited a female friend, another maid, into our flat when we were not at home.'
Sent home
Mr Tan sent the maid to the agency the same day she confessed. She flew back to Indonesia two days later.
The maid had been working for 13 months in Mr Tan's flat for $300 a month.
'Now we realise why she was always looking very sleepy,' Mr Tan said.
'We actually called up this guy, but after talking to him twice on the phone, he sounded pretty timid, and pretty remorseful at having entered my house.'
Mr Tan, who wrote about his experience to the forum page of The Straits Times, said he gave his neighbour a cheesecake as a token of thanks.
He said he will get a new maid when school re-opens.
He had five Indonesian maids earlier, over a 10 year period, and had never before come across one who had brought other people into his home.
Still, Mr Tan said: 'My maid was a decent worker, just that she had this bad habit.
'I've employed several maids and this is not typical of their behaviour.'
