Singapore man jailed after threatening to kill domestic helper he fell for
SINGAPORE, June 16 — A Singaporean man who developed romantic feelings for his family's domestic helper and later blamed her for the breakdown of his marriage was jailed for 40 days today after threatening to kill her with a kitchen knife.
According to Channel News Asia, Muhammad Khairulnaim Rosli, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal intimidation.
The court heard that Khairulnaim lived with his wife and their two young children when the helper was hired on September 10, 2023.
About three months into her employment, Khairulnaim confessed his feelings to the helper, who felt 'disturbed and uncomfortable'.
She rejected him in mid-December and blocked him on social media.
He later told his wife about his feelings. On January 1, 2024, she asked for a divorce.
Tensions escalated on January 12 when Khairulnaim tried to obtain the helper's husband's phone number from her WhatsApp messages.
The helper grabbed her phone back and confronted him. A brief altercation followed at the storeroom, where Khairulnaim kicked the door three times.
Later that day, he called his wife and complained the helper hadn't fed the children rice. After waking from a nap, he reportedly became enraged with himself, the helper and his wife.
'He felt that the victim had destroyed his life and he felt that he could do the same by telling the victim's husband that the victim had a boyfriend in Pakistan,' Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ho May Kim reportedly told the court.
Khairulnaim then took urgent leave from work, retrieved a kitchen knife with a 16cm blade, and approached the helper. Raising the knife slightly above hip level and pointing it at her, he threatened to kill her.
The helper fled the home when Khairulnaim's wife returned. A passer-by saw her crying and alerted the police. Khairulnaim was arrested later that evening.
DPP Ho urged the court to impose a jail sentence of between five-and-a-half and seven weeks. She said Khairulnaim was in a position of authority and had used a weapon.
However, the prosecution also took into account that he was a first-time offender, the threat was not prolonged, and the victim was not harmed.
'The accused appears to have committed the offence on impulse,' said Ho.
In Singapore, criminal intimidation carries a maximum jail term of up to 20 years.
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