Jailed for getting dog to bite maid
Maid bitten on thigh and finger; housewife gets 20 months
By Sujin Thomas 
APPEALING AGAINST THE SENTENCE: Housewife Tay Siew Hoon, 53, had ordered her shih-tzu to attack her Indonesian maid in September 2005. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
RIGHT after housewife Tay Siew Hoon got her dog to bite her Indonesian maid's thigh and finger, she sat down to watch TV in the living room of her Changi home.
The maid, now 24 and working elsewhere, ran into Tay's son's room where he and his father, Mr Kim Hua Siang, helped put a plaster on her wound.
In court yesterday, Tay's lawyer A.P. Thirumurthy used what her husband and son did for the maid to plead for a lighter sentence. 'That itself shows they were concerned for the maid despite the dog bite,' he said.
But Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Tse Haw pointed out that Tay, 53, was not the one who tended to the maid's injuries. 'The accused cannot take credit for the actions of her husband and son.'
DPP Lim had earlier called Tay's actions 'one of the worst cases of maid abuse'. It is also the first time an employer has used an animal to abuse her maid.
District Judge Wong Choon Ning sentenced Tay, a mother of three grown-up children, to a 20-month jail term.
Mr Thirumurthy asked the court to impose a jail term of between three and nine months on his client, based on past maid-abuse cases involving employers using heated items like an iron or weapons such as a knife.
But DPP Lim argued that a dog attack was worse as hot irons or knives were inanimate objects. 'The pain would be a fleeting moment at the point of contact or stabbing.'
Mr Thirumurthy also tried using the size of Tay's dog as a mitigating factor. He said the dog, a shih-tzu, is a small breed which is not known to be ferocious, unlike an Alsatian 'which is known for tearing off chunks of flesh'.
But DPP Lim said the dog bites left the maid with 11 bruises on her right thigh and marks on her left middle finger. 'Imagine the trauma and fear the victim must have been subjected to by the attack,' the prosecutor said.
Tay's husband, 54, who works as a property agent and car dealer, told The Straits Times he felt the sentence was 'unfair'. 'My maid tells lies and I feel very sad this has happened,' Mr Kim said.
Tay appealed immediately after sentencing and her husband posted bail of $25,000 for her release.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Sto...ry_254355.html 
Jailed for getting dog to bite maid 
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