Woman’s OCD did not cause her to starve maid: Judge
Lim Choon Hong (left) and Chong Sui Foon at the State Court on Thursday, Dec 22, 2016. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — Despite the accused’s claims that her obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) led her to starve her Filipino maid, a judge on Thursday (Dec 22) ruled that Chong Sui Foon’s preoccupation with cleanliness would not have led her to restrict the quantity of food given to the victim.
District Judge Low Wee Ping was delivering his findings on whether Chong’s mental condition was linked to her committing the offence, and which would have a bearing on her sentencing to be meted out in February.
In March, Chong and her husband, Lim Choon Hong, both 48, were found guilty of starving Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, causing her weight to drop from 49kg to 29kg within 15 months.
Lim, a freelance trader, faces one charge under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which requires employers to be responsible for the maintenance of their foreign employees, including providing them with adequate food. Chong faces one count of abetting her husband in committing the offence.
The couple decided to plead guilty after a highly publicised three-day trial in December last year that revealed how their maid was provided with two meals a day.
The first meal consisted of two to three slices of white bread and one to two packets of instant noodles, and at times, a slice of tomato or cucumber and a small piece of meat. The second meal would include just five to six slices of white bread.
A three-day Newton hearing — meant to resolve disputed points for sentencing — was held in October for psychiatrists from both sides to testify as to Chong’s mental condition.
Both parties agreed that Chong suffers from OCD, which results in an obsession with cleanliness and a fear of dirt and contamination. She also retains a residual dysfunctional attitude towards food and nutrition after she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa as a teenager.
However, District Judge Low found that Chong’s OCD or attitude towards food did not bear any causal link to her committing the offence, nor impair her ability to understand the nature of her actions. There was also no evidence that her OCD extended to the obsession and compulsion to restrict the quantity of food for the victim, he added.
Chong’s preoccupation with cleanliness, noted the judge, would have affected only the type of food she chose to provide, such as foods that did not require much cooking. “It does not explain why she restricted both the type and quantity of food she gave to her victim,” he said. There is also no evidence of a scientific nature that Chong’s underlying mental disorder can manifest in completely different treatment and outcomes for different parties — which was starving and depriving Ms Gawidan of food while feeding more and nutritionally better food to her family.
“The contrasting manifestations of (Chong’s) conduct stem from and reflect a selective and discriminatory perception of the victim, and are not related to an underlying disorder,” District Judge Low added.
Noting that members of the public might then question what could have caused Chong’s offending behaviour, the judge said some “closure” could be obtained from the remarks made by the Institute of Mental Health’s psychiatrist Stephen Phang during the Newton hearing.
Dr Phang, who testified for the prosecution, had said: “If I may venture, that the starving of the maid probably emanates from what would likely have been essentially very ordinary, non-pathological … normal emotions such as normal frustrations and normal anger, so on and so forth. But this is in the realm of speculation.”
Chong and Lim are expected to be sentenced on Feb 23. They each face up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to S$10,000.
