Maid jailed for lodging false report that employer's husband raped her

SINGAPORE: A domestic helper has been jailed for one week for lodging a false report that her employer's husband had raped her.

The name of the 36-year-old Indonesian national was redacted from court documents obtained by CNA on Thursday (Oct 16), and the victim cannot be named due to a gag order protecting his identity.

The court heard during the guilty plea on Tuesday that the maid began working for a woman's household sometime around May 2023. She cared for the woman's one-month-old son, among other duties.

Sometime in September 2024, the maid and her employer's 40-year-old husband, a Singapore permanent resident, began engaging in sexual activities with each other.

These acts were consensual in nature, said the prosecutor, and the pair had sex on at least four occasions in the home, with the last occasion on Feb 24 this year.

At about 1.30am on Feb 25, the police received a report of a sexual offence.

A police officer located the maid at a housing block in Ubi and ascertained that she had lodged a report, claiming that she was sexually assaulted by the victim.

The maid told the officer that the man had forced himself on her more than once. She also said that the man occasionally switched off the closed-circuit television cameras and touched her inappropriately.

The maid was taken to hospital that same day, with the police officers accompanying her.

At the hospital, another two officers interviewed the maid. She claimed that the man had removed her clothes and raped her on Feb 24. She also said he had done so on two other occasions in September 2024.

She said she had delayed lodging a report as she was afraid that her employers would repatriate her.

In light of her responses, the police officers referred the case to the serious sexual crime branch, and arrangements were made for the maid to go for a sexual assault medical examination.

She went for the examination and was interviewed by another police officer. She said the victim had performed sex acts on her and raped her four times, with the first incident sometime in September 2024 and the last on Feb 24, 2025.

The maid also said she accepted "extra pocket money" of between S$50 and S$100 from the victim, but maintained that the sex acts were not done with consent.

The case was referred for further investigation. Two officers from the serious sexual crime branch conducted a video-recorded interview with the employer's husband on the night of Feb 25.

He claimed that the sexual activities with the maid were consensual.

In a concurrent police interview that began at about 11pm on Feb 25, the maid said that all her sex acts with the victim were in fact consensual.

She admitted to lying to the police because she "felt guilty" and wanted to stop having an intimate relationship with the victim. She also suspected that his wife knew about their affair.

The maid was represented by Ms Josephine Chee from Rajah & Tann under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme. She sought not more than seven days' jail, urging the court to consider the circumstances leading to the offence.

Ms Chee said the victim was "clearly the more dominant party", as the maid was employed to work in his household "without recourse to external support or assistance".

She said the maid "acceded to" the victim's requests for sex, but felt compelled after five months to put a stop to their sexual relationship by lodging a police report.

Ms Chee said her client was a divorcee with two daughters who live in Indonesia. Her client's father works as a farmer, but is "barely able to make ends meet".

The maid began working for the victim and his wife in May 2023, said Ms Chee.

She was paid a monthly salary of S$647.50, including compensation for working in lieu of three rest days a month. However, she received only S$60 a month from June 2023 to December 2023 in order to pay off her agency loan to work in Singapore, said Ms Chee.

The lawyer said the victim started giving the maid additional pocket money after the first month of work as reward for her work performance.

VICTIM MADE ADVANCES ON HER: LAWYER

In August 2024, the victim started making advances on the maid, by asking her for sex, claimed the lawyer.

"He would sneak into her room late at night whilst she was sleeping and lie next to her, initiating sex," said Ms Chee.

She said the maid was "reluctant to comply with his advances", but was also unsure of how to reject him or chase him away, since he was also her employer.

These concerns were reflected in WhatsApp messages to her younger sister, where she said she was afraid of the victim, as he would turn off the CCTV when he wanted to "do something bad", and that he would touch and grope her, said Ms Chee.

The maid also reached out to an Indonesian TikTok personality who "purports to help domestic workers in Singapore", said Ms Chee.

In her message, the maid said she was a domestic worker in Singapore and that the victim frequently went into her room, trying to have sex with her even though she would turn him down, said Ms Chee.

She said the maid gave in to the request for sex in September 2024 "at the behest" of the victim's "persistent advances".

They did this when the victim's wife was not at home, and the man would give the maid additional pocket money and gifted her a necklace.

Ms Chee said the maid was concerned that the wife would find out, and feared being sent back home to Indonesia as she needed to continue working in Singapore to earn money for her family.

She said the maid did not know how to resist the victim's advances as he was in a position of authority over her. She also feared that he would fire her or make her life "very difficult" if she rejected him, said Ms Chee.

After the last occasion of sex, the maid "foolishly decided to lodge a police report" against the victim for rape, as she thought it would put an end to the sexual activities.

The lawyer said that while the maid initially lied, she told the police the truth the same day, saying she felt very guilty and wanted to stop having an intimate relationship with the victim.

Ms Chee said her client was "essentially caught between a rock and a hard place", and that she did not derive any personal gain from stating the falsehood to the police, "apart from the relief she mistakenly thought she could achieve" if the victim would be deterred from making further advances.

The lawyer added that her client would be repatriated to Indonesia after serving her sentence and that she would likely never be able to seek employment as a domestic worker in Singapore again.

For giving false information to a public servant, she could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.