Viral photo sparks three-year ordeal for employer after maid's accusation

Mrs Belinda Huber with her husband Andre and their children (from left) Hayley, Hunter and Ashley. PHOTO: COURTESY OF BELINDA HUBER
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What started as a viral photo of her then helper cleaning a second-storey glass awning turned into a nearly three-year legal battle for Mrs Belinda Huber, who also had to put up with online vitriol and accusatory stares.

The 37-year-old Australian had insisted from the start that she never told Filipina Taculad Rose Mae Mata to climb onto the awning of her Goldhill Avenue house near Dunearn Road. But that June 2017 photo of the domestic worker, barefoot and scrubbing away, convinced many people including investigators that she had done so.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 26, 2020, with the headline Viral photo sparks three-year ordeal for employer after maid's accusation. Subscribe