The mother initially suspected the abuse happened at school. (Representational)
A 39-year-old Indian woman working as a maid in Singapore has pleaded guilty to abusing a pre-school girl.
The maid, who was not named, owing to a gag order to protect the victim's identity, is expected to be sentenced on January 9, 2023, the Straits Times reported.
The maid began working in the victim's home in July 2020. In mid-2021, the child's mother started noticing bruises on her daughter's cheeks.
"When the (mother) asked the accused about the bruises, the accused responded that she did not know how the victim had got the bruises and that she had not noticed them before. Thinking that the victim might have got the bruises during her playtime, the (mother) did not pursue the matter further," Deputy Public Prosecutor Alexandria Shamini Joseph said.
Around January 10, 2022, the mother spotted a bruise on her daughter's back and suspected that the child could have been abused.
The mother initially suspected that the little girl was abused at her pre-school and lodged a complaint with its principal. The mother also alerted the police.
The management of the pre-school later checked its closed-circuit television (CCTV) recordings, but did not notice anything amiss concerning the toddler on its premises. The pre-school then told the girl's mother about its findings.
The truth emerged when the mother checked CCTV recordings from her home and saw the maid repeatedly abusing the daughter on January 6.
Among the many acts of abuse, the maid had pinched the girl's stomach while she was drinking milk, causing the child to scream and cry. She also slapped the child and pressed on her face.
The mother confronted her child's abuser on January 13, and the maid later came clean to the police about what she had done.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)