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30 Nov 2008

Formal Consolidation | 2008 RevEd

Enhanced penalties for offences against domestic maids

73.—(1) Subsection (2) shall apply where an employer of a domestic maid or a member of the employer’s household is convicted of —

(a)	an offence of causing hurt or grievous hurt to any domestic maid employed by the employer punishable under section 323, 324 or 325;
(b)	an offence of wrongfully confining any domestic maid employed by the employer punishable under section 342, 343 or 344;
(c)	an offence of assaulting or using criminal force to any domestic maid employed by the employer punishable under section 354;
(d)	an offence of doing any act that is intended to insult the modesty of any domestic maid employed by the employer punishable under section 509; or
(e)	an offence of attempting to commit, abetting the commission of, or being a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit, an offence described in paragraphs (a) to (d). [18/98]

(2) Where an employer of a domestic maid or a member of the employer’s household is convicted of an offence described in subsection (1)(a), (b), (c), (d) or (e), the court may sentence the employer of the domestic maid or the member of his household, as the case may be, to one and a half times the amount of punishment to which he would otherwise have been liable for that offence.

[18/98]

(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68) —

(a)	a Magistrate’s Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all proceedings for the offences punishable under sections 343, 344 and 354 and shall have power to award the full punishment provided under subsection (2) in respect of those offences; and
(b)	a District Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all proceedings for the offences punishable under sections 324 and 325 and shall have power to award the full punishment provided under subsection (2) in respect of those offences. [18/98]

(4) For the purposes of this section —

“domestic maid” means any female house servant employed in, or in connection with, the domestic services of her employer’s private dwelling-house and who resides in her employer’s private dwelling-house;

“dwelling-house” means a place of residence and includes a building or tenement wholly or principally used, constructed or adapted for use for human habitation;

“member of the employer’s household”, in relation to a domestic maid, means a person residing in the employer’s private dwelling-house at the time the offence was committed whose orders the domestic maid has reasonable grounds for believing she is expected to obey.

[18/98]

Informal Consolidation | Amended Act 15 of 2019

Enhanced penalties for offences against domestic workers

73.—(1) Where an employer of a domestic worker, a member of the employer’s household or an employment agent of a domestic worker is convicted of an offence under this Code (other than an excluded offence) that is committed against that domestic worker, the court may sentence the person convicted to twice the maximum punishment that the court could, but for this section, impose for that offence.

(2) This section does not apply where the offender (A) proves that, despite A being an employer of the domestic worker (B), a member of B’s employer’s household or an employment agent of B, the relationship between A and B did not adversely affect B’s ability to protect herself from A in respect of the harm caused by the offence.

(3) Despite anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68) —

(a)	a Magistrate’s Court has jurisdiction to try the offences in subsection (1), where no imprisonment is prescribed or where twice the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed for the offence does not exceed 5 years, and has power to impose the full punishment provided under that subsection in respect of those offences; and
(b)	a District Court has jurisdiction to try the offences in subsection (1) and has power to impose the full punishment provided under that subsection in respect of those offences.

(4) In this section —

“domestic worker” means any female house servant employed in, or in connection with, the domestic services of her employer’s private dwelling-house and who is required to reside in her employer’s private dwelling-house;

“dwelling-house” means a place of residence and includes a building or tenement wholly or principally used, constructed or adapted for use for human habitation;

“employer”, in relation to a domestic worker, includes a person who has the same fundamental qualities as an employer of the domestic worker and whose orders the domestic worker has reasonable grounds for believing she is expected to obey;

“employment agency personnel” has the meaning given by section 2 of the Employment Agencies Act (Cap. 92);

“employment agent”, in relation to a domestic worker, means an employment agency personnel or a person who performs work similar to an employment agency personnel, and whose orders the domestic worker has reasonable grounds for believing she is expected to obey;

“excluded offence” means an offence —

(a)	under section 304B or 335A; or
(b)	under this Code which is punishable with death or imprisonment for life;

“member of the employer’s household”, in relation to a domestic worker, means a person residing in the private dwelling-house of the domestic worker’s employer at the time the offence was committed, and whose orders the domestic worker has reasonable grounds for believing she is expected to obey.

[Act 15 of 2019 wef 01/01/2020]

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