An Indonesian maid in Singapore was sentenced to two months and two weeks in jail after placing a crying one-year-old boy on the edge of a low wall between the fifth and sixth floors of a public housing block, while trying to comfort him. Residents who witnessed the dangerous act were shocked and called the police.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the defendant, 24-year-old Lisna, pleaded guilty to a charge under the Children and Young Persons Act in the State Courts on the 23rd.
The victim boy was only one year old at the time of the incident. The event happened around 12:27 p.m. on May 18 this year, at a public housing block in the northern region.
According to case details, the defendant was working as a maid at the boy's home at the time, and her duties included taking care of him.
On the day of the incident, at around noon, the defendant was holding the crying boy in the stairwell between the fifth and sixth floors, trying to comfort him. She noticed the boy leaning toward the low wall and, assuming he wanted to see birds flying overhead, placed him on the edge of the low wall on the stairwell landing for about five minutes.
The defendant watched over the boy the whole time and he was not injured. However, a resident witnessed this dangerous scene, immediately reported it to the police, and took photos as evidence.
The defendant was arrested in the afternoon of July 7, 2026, and has been remanded since.
The prosecution pointed out that at one point, the boy had one leg hanging outside the edge of the wall, and a fall from that height would pose a serious risk of death.
However, the prosecution also noted that the incident was relatively brief and a one-off, and the defendant's behavior was more out of ignorance than malice. She remained by the boy's side after placing him on the wall, and there were no other reports of dangerous or abusive conduct. Therefore, the prosecution requested a jail sentence of three to five months.