Maid abuse trial: Employer blames wife’s OCD for alleged mistreatment
Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan's former employers Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon at the State Courts on Dec 15, 2015. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — Taking the stand for the first time in the high-profile maid abuse trial, the businessman who allegedly ill-treated his Filipino domestic helper today (Dec 16) distanced himself from what happened, and pointed to his wife’s obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) as the reason the helper was underfed and had to bathe in a public toilet at the family’s Cuscaden Walk condominium, among other things.
Lim Choon Hong said it was his wife Chong Sui Foon who managed the household while he took charge of the finances. “She actively manages the household, the daily activities, what to do, eat (and) clean … anything to do with the house, family and the maid,” said Lim. Nevertheless, he said that his wife “didn’t do this to hurt anyone” and her condition had resulted in one of their four children running away from home in 2010.
The couple, both 47, are accused of providing their Filipino domestic worker, Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, with two meals daily of only instant noodles and bread for more than a year, causing her weight to drop from 49kg to 29kg by the time she escaped to a shelter for help.
Lim is charged with flouting the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act for failing to provide Ms Gawidan with adequate food, while Chong is alleged to have abetted the offence.
On the third day of the trial today, District Judge Low Wee Ping ruled that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the couple.
Testifying in his own defence, Lim said his wife had this “tendency to be very obsessive with cleanliness and food” and her lifestyle revolved around these two issues. He said she had been treated for anorexia when she was a teenager and was warded for her condition. She was subsequently diagnosed with OCD by a psychiatrist in her adult years.
Her tendency to “clean things very religiously and thoroughly” had created “quite a lot of stress” in the family, said Lim, who broke down while talking about his wife’s condition.
Lim claimed that he also bathes at the “very luxurious” public toilet near the condominium’s swimming pool. This is because each time anyone in the household showers, the family has to do a “spring cleaning” of the bathroom. “If you shower upstairs, you spend one hour cleaning after you shower,” he said.
Lim added that the family does not store snacks at home, and they do not cook often because they would have to clean up afterwards. The family usually eat only two meals a day, with him and his wife sometimes eating just one meal because they have no time.
He refuted Ms Gawidan’s claims that she was not given enough food, including during her nine-day trip to Hong Kong with the family. Lim said he and Ms Gawidan arrived in Hong Kong before the rest of the family, and he took her sightseeing and bought her food including coffee from Starbucks, a Big Mac meal at McDonald’s, and a shared meal of rice, vegetables and dimsum at Crystal Jade restaurant.
Ms Gawidan had claimed she had only instant noodles and bread to eat when she was staying with the family’s children at Raffles Hotel. Lim clarified that they stayed at Raffles Town Club, and not at the hotel. His daughter had also bought packed food and McDonald’s for Ms Gawidan, he said.
The trial was originally scheduled to conclude yesterday after three days of hearing. It was extended and adjourned to a date to be fixed.
