Pinay maid nabbed for murder in S’pore

SINGAPORE (AFP) — A 29-year-old Filipina maid was arrested here yesterday for the murder of another woman, believed to be her compatriot, whose head and limbs were found in the Orchard Road shopping district, police said.

The suspect, whose identity cannot be revealed until she is charged in court, was arrested at her employer’s flat, where a chopper and red plastic bags were seized, within 12 hours of the remains’ discovery on Friday.

The suspect is to be charged in court today with murder, police said. If convicted, she will receive a mandatory sentence of death by hanging.

A cleaner was carrying out her normal rounds outside a metro station at the posh Orchard Road district during the lunch period Friday when she came across an oblong sports bag stuffed with a head and four limbs, police said.

The head was wrapped in a red plastic bag, while the limbs were placed in two black trash bags. Hours later, a woman’s torso was found at MacRitchie Reservoir, a heavily wooded park several kilometers away from the spot where the head and limbs had been found.

"Police are working on the possibility that all the body parts found yesterday are from the same person. Analysis and tests are presently being conducted by the Health Sciences Authority," a police statement said.

"Based on investigations, we believe that the victim is a 26-year-old Filipina domestic worker," it said, adding that the two women were believed to have known each other.

The case comes 10 years after a Filipina maid, Flor Contemplacion, was hanged in Singapore for murdering another Filipina maid, Delia Maga, and her four-year-old Singaporean ward.

The execution triggered a bitter diplomatic row between the Philippines and Singapore.

In Manila, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said yesterday that labor attaché Miriam Cuasay had met with the suspect in Singapore and that the Philippine government was looking into extending legal aid to her.

Sto. Tomas declined to provide the identities of the suspect or victim, saying their families had not yet been informed. She also declined to mention a possible motive.

Ambassador to Singapore Belen Anota reported to acting Foreig Affairs Secretary Rafael Sequis that they were preparing for the repatriation of the victim’s remains.

Anota said the embassy has arranged for the services of a lawyer to ensure that the rights of the suspect under Singaporean laws are recognized and respected.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration chief Marianito Roque also refused to give any information on the suspect and the victim on the request of the embassy in Singapore.

"Until we have notified the families, were are under request to hold any information about them. We have to contact them first," Roque said.

The murder uncovered Friday is the latest in a series of crimes involving foreign domestic helpers in Singapore. Some 140,000 women work here as maids, mostly from the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

On Sept. 5, two young Indonesian maids narrowly escaped the death sentence after being found guilty of homicide for killing their Singaporean employer, but they were handed lengthy jail terms.

The new case also resembled another recent "body parts" crime here.

In June, a 50-year-old Singaporean man, Leong Siew Chor, was charged with murdering his colleague and alleged mistress, 22-year-old China national Liu Hong Mei, whose body was chopped up and scattered in a river. — With Sheila Crisostomo, Marvin Sy