Last maid involved in fight between domestic workers over TikTok videos fined
The five maids who fought were in rival groups that were not on good terms because a maid from one group had posted TikTok videos insulting another from the opposing group.
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SINGAPORE: A fifth maid was fined S$1,000 (US$742) by a court over a fight among domestic workers near Paya Lebar MRT station, which went viral online.
Siti Rukayah Kusni, a 48-year-old Indonesian, pleaded guilty on Monday (Jan 27) to one count of affray for the fight between two rival groups of maids.
The first group comprised Sriani and Maesaroh, who pleaded guilty in August and September 2024, and were similarly fined S$1,000 each. Sriani lost her work permit after her conviction.
Siti is the last of the three women from the second group to plead guilty and be sentenced. The other two, Sulastri and Nita Widia Rahayu, were fined S$1,000 each in October 2024.
The fight, which took place on May 19, 2024, came after Sriani posted videos on TikTok insulting Sulastri. As a result, the two groups were not on good terms.
Sriani consumed alcohol at a party at about 11am that day and fell asleep at Paya Lebar Square at about 2pm.
The rival group comprising Siti, Sulastri, Nita and others were at a gathering at Tanjong Katong Complex when Siti suggested going to Paya Lebar Square to confront Sriani over the TikTok post.
At about 2.40pm, they found Sriani sleeping and Sulastri kicked her hand, waking her up.
After a heated argument between the two groups of maids, they began fighting and drew a crowd of about 50 onlookers.
A member of the public called the police and the maids were later arrested.
Siti was represented by Nakoorsha Law Corporation. In her mitigation, her lawyer sought a S$1,000 fine for parity with the others who had already been sentenced because there was “no relevant difference” in her involvement in the fight compared to the others.
The penalty for affray is a jail term of up to a year, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
