PETALING JAYA: A 73-year-old woman who led her family in committing a series of horrific abuse on an intelectually-disabled woman was sentenced 17 years and 10 months’ jail on Tuesday (July 2).
According to Channel News Asia, Hasmah Sulong is reportedly the last family member which include five others who were exposed for their near-fatal abuse of the woman dating all the way back in 2016 until early 2018.
It is learnt that the victim ran away and stayed with the family prior to the period of abuse.
The victim, 27-years-old at the time, was working at a fast food eatery.
Hasmah charged her S$150 (RM521) for laundry charges and had her sleep in the living room on a mat. The victim also knew one of the sisters since they studied in the same school together.
It was further reported that Hasmah’s daughters Hasniza and Haslinda had agreed to make the woman their “babu” (a Javanese term for female servant) with Hasniza imposing several physical punishments by slapping or hitting whenever the victim made a mistake such as “being unhygienic, lying” or showing disobedience.
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Later on, despite the victim’s father begging her to come home, Hasmah’s family had confiscated her identification card and passport.
An attempt to flee from the family resulted in the woman being dragged back after Hasmah confronted her at her workplace. She was not allowed to work after that.
The victim’s ordeal only became a lot worse after she was accused, between May and June 2016, of performing a sex act on Haslinda’s husband Hany Aboubakr Abdelkarim Abdelfattah.
It is learnt Haslinda made Hany slap the victim, following the incident.
Additionally, the victim was also accused of theft and was threatened by the family to have her reputation smeared if she attempted to leave again.
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Throughout the period of time she was kept by the family, they violently assaulted her while making her do housework for eight to 12 hours a day.
Other abusive acts include using a pliers to twist her toes, poking her right eye - causing permanent vision loss, pouring hot water on the lower area of her body - resulting in life-threatening burns and chaining her every night.
Due to the assaults she suffered at the hands of Hasmah and her family members, the victim was later chained to the toilet bowl in a half-naked state after losing control of her bowels and suffering from incontinence.
She was made to eat off the bathroom floor while lying in her own filth.
On January 16, 2018, the 30-year-old victim was rushed to the hospital at Hasmah’s behest after she exhibited strange behaviour such as banging her head on the wall and inserting her hand into her mouth.
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During her treatment in the hospital, she was said to have contracted pneumonia and sepsis from her wounds and was not expected to survive.
However, doctors managed to revive after eight hours of resuscitation and was discharged after being admitted for more than three months.
The victim continues to suffer permanent injuries to this day, which are 10 missing teeth and a deformed ear.
The family also lied to the police about the extent of the abuse, initially with Hasniza claiming that she appeared at their doorstep while Hasmah also corroborated with Hasniza’s claims, adding that the victim showed up two weeks previously, seemingly dazed with an emanating stench. She also claimed that the scalding was accidental.
An assessment by Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health found that the victim has a mild intellectual disability with deputy public prosecutor Ng Jun Chong citing her vulnerability being akin to a child and seeing this, the prosecution sought 17 to 19 years imprisonment for Hasmah.
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During the trial, Hasmah pled guilty to five charges including causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon, wrongful confinement and lying to the police, as well as several others mulled by the court.
Her lawyer, Amarick Gill, asked the court to reduce her jail sentence by 15 years as to “consider”, as quoted, Hasmah’s age and guilty plea, reasoning with the court that said plea had “saved the court time” and all of the 49 prosecution witnesses’ time.
While the lawyer took note of the horrific abuse that carried on for several years, he stated that Hasmah’s sentencing would bring about “closure”, as quoted, to all involved in the case while compensation was not sought by the prosecution as Hasmah did not have the financial means to repay the victim.
Meanwhile, Justice Valerie Thean said she took into account the accused’s age when deciding her sentence - saying that she would have “made more offences run consecutively”, as quoted, totaling the jail sentence to more than 20 years if not for her age.
Hasmah’s daughters Haslinda and Hasniza received eight-and-a-half years and three years of jail respectively.
Hasmah’s sons, Muhammad Iskandar Ismail and Muhammad Iski Ismail, who played a less significant part in the abuse were sentenced to eight months and three months jail respectively while Haslinda’s husband Hany was jailed for three weeks in 2020 for his part in the abuse upon Haslinda’s behest.
