Foreign domestic worker allegedly forces child she’s caring for to kiss elderly man who purportedly offered S$5, police looking into the matter

A foreign domestic worker allegedly forced the child she was caring for to kiss an elderly man at Lucky Food Centre, the basement food court of Lucky Plaza, after he purportedly offered her S$5.

The incident apparently occurred in front of other diners, one of whom stepped in to ask what the man and the foreign domestic worker were doing.

The man who stepped in, Francis Michael, 56, subsequently posted about the incident on Facebook.

The post was then shared in other groups.

The incident occurred on Mar. 8 at around 2:45pm, Michael said.

He told Mothership that he will "not tolerate child abuse, not here, not anywhere, not on my watch".

The police confirmed in response to media queries that a report was lodged and that they are looking into the matter.

Food court manager confirmed police spoke to him

In response to media queries, the manager of Lucky Food Centre, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the police spoke to him at around 1pm on Mar. 10.

He said: "I was present, but I didn’t see the whole process, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment on the details."

Witness said child appeared 'reluctant' to kiss man

According to Michael, he was seated across from a table with four or five foreign domestic workers, one of whom was caring for a child, who appeared to be of African-American descent.

Michael identified the group of women as Filipino domestic workers.

The girl appeared to be about three to four years old.

An elderly man was seated at the same table about four seats away from the group of domestic workers, according to Michael.

At one point, the elderly man, who appeared to be Chinese, allegedly pulled out a S$5 note and waved it at the child.

The domestic worker caring for the girl then purportedly instructed the child to accept the cash and kiss the man.

The child apparently kissed the man on the cheek.

Michael claimed: "The child was reluctant to kiss the man, but the Filipino helper persuaded her to."

Allegedly waved S$50 note

About two minutes later, the man allegedly waved a S$50 note at the child.

Michael said: "The helper again told the child to take it and kept forcing her to kiss the man."

Upon witnessing this development, Michael said he stopped and reprimanded the domestic worker.

He said he told her that she was supposed to care for the child, not force her to kiss strangers for money.

Michael apparently also told the domestic worker that he could "call the police on her".

He also said he told her to call the father of the child and put him on her phone, so that he could speak to him.

He claimed the domestic worker challenged him to call the police.

Michael also claimed that he asked the elderly man if he was Singaporean, and he replied that he was.

Michael added: "I asked him what the hell he was doing, encouraging an underage child to kiss him by offering her money. He defended his actions and signalled to a tattooed man behind me, who came to me and told me to back off."

The domestic workers and the child apparently left the premises when Michael was being confronted.

The elderly man continued sitting there, according to Michael.

Michael lodged a police report on Mar. 9, a day after the incident.

A misunderstanding?

The food court manager told Mothership that the elderly man was a long-time customer, who would dine at the establishment once in a while.

The manager added: "Sometimes in a month he will come everyday, sometimes once a week. I’m not too clear, but he is a regular."

However, the manager declined to share the surveillance footage from the premises that would have a video record of the incident.

He said the incident could have been a misunderstanding, and felt that it was unfair to comment as the police were investigating and there was no confirmation of wrongdoing.

The manager also said: "Before I know the truth, I need to protect some people’s privacy. If he simply didn’t think that much about it, like some elderly people who only realise the situation later, and hadn’t thought that the consequences would be so serious, then it would be very unfair to him."

Top photo from Mothership