Singapore  - A Singapore court has sentenced a couple to several weeks in jail for hurting and terrifying their newly hired Filipino maid, a news report said Friday.

Gideon Yip Yick Weng, 32, was jailed for six weeks and his partner Angela Tay Yan Hwee, 39, for three weeks after they mistreated their maid May Shiela Ornales Juanico, 34, in June last year.

Both had pleaded guilty but appealed against their sentences and were out on bail of 10,000 Singapore dollars (7,200 US dollars) each, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

The maid, who had been with the couple for just five weeks, had told her employers that she was unable to clean a storeroom in the allocated time of 20 minutes.

Her employers then got mad at her and threatened to torture her before sending her back home, said the report.

They slapped the maid, pulled her hair, pushed her forehead, made her kneel down and eventually threatened her with a knife.

The judge described the couple's conduct as "shameful and disgusting," according to the newspaper. (dpa)