An Indian maid was allegedly attacked by her employer with a meat cleaver for failing to turn on a fan which fractured her fingers, court documents said on Thursday.
Anbarasu Malarkodi, 40, told a district court here that housewife Sakthivel Punithavati, 30, attacked her on March 10, 2004, one month after she started work in Singapore. The maid said she put Sakthivel's one-year-old son to bed in the afternoon on March 10 and returned to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
Sakthivel scolded her for not turning on the fan.
"She then took a chopper from a cupboard...and swung it at my hand," Anbarasu said, adding she passed out afterwards. Anbarasu said the injury was so severe she could no longer lift anything with her right hand.
Sakthivel denied the charge. She claimed the maid injured herself accidentally because she was not accustomed to using a cleaver.
Anbarasu told the police at the time of the incident that she had injured her hand accidentally, but later told doctors at the National University Hospital about the attack.
"The doctors told me to speak the truth, because only then will I be protected and rectify the situation," The Straits Times quoted her as saying.
She said the job was her first stint as a domestic worker. Her employer complained that she was forgetful, lazy, careless and slow at her chores.
{{/usCountry}}She said the job was her first stint as a domestic worker. Her employer complained that she was forgetful, lazy, careless and slow at her chores.
{{/usCountry}}