Jail for helper who threw bottle that struck elderly woman’s face, stole from employer

SINGAPORE – Feeling frustrated with her employer’s bedridden mother for disturbing her sleep, a domestic helper threw a bottle of lotion at the elderly woman, whose lips bled when it struck her face.

After Eka Yulianti Suryanto, 44, was arrested for this, investigations revealed she had also stolen two pieces of gold jewellery from her employer, and pawned them for $2,880.

The ill-gotten gains were remitted to Indonesia and Eka has made no restitution.

On Oct 1, she was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to one count each of theft and performing a rash act.

Around the time of the offences, Eka had worked for the 70-year-old victim’s daughter for around 11 years, and shared a room with the elderly woman and another helper.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yohanes Ng said the elderly woman had Parkinson’s disease, and could not protect herself from abuse and neglect.

In late 2025, Eka started getting frustrated with the senior citizen, who would make involuntary noises due to the disease.

When the noises became unbearable, the helper would throw items such as an air freshener and a lotion bottle in the elderly woman’s direction.

This created a noise, and the victim would keep quiet soon after.

At around 3am on Jan 22, 2026, Eka flung the bottle towards the elderly woman, and it struck her lips.

Eka did not check to see what happened to the woman, and went back to sleep.

When the other helper, called Kus, woke up later that morning to change the victim’s diapers, she found that the latter’s lips were bruised and bleeding.

Kus confronted Eka, who came clean about what she had done.

Three days later, Kus told the employer about the incident, and Eka was arrested the same day.

Investigations revealed that Eka had also stolen a bracelet and a bangle from her employer on two separate occasions in late 2025 before pawning them.

Her employer had noticed the missing jewellery and asked Eka about the matter.

However, Eka lied that she had not seen the valuables.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.