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A domestic worker who wanted to get her passport back from her employer prepared for the confrontation by sharpening a knife and hiding a second, smaller knife in a basket under a toilet sink on the second floor of the home, prosecutors said.
Indonesian maid Daryati finally took another weapon, a long knife from the warehouse, when she confronted Madame Seow Kim Choo, 59, at her home in Telok Kurau on June 7, 2016.
When Madame Seow resisted, they cut her off and stabbed her in the neck. While lying bleeding on the toilet floor, Daryati retrieved the knife she had previously hidden and continued to stab her employer, the court heard.
The details of Daryati’s preparation and her “cruel” attack on Madame Seow were recounted yesterday by Assistant District Attorney Wong Kok Weng in the ongoing murder trial, as he maintained that she intended to kill her employer.
Daryati, whose documented age is 28 but claims to be two years younger, inflicted more than 90 stab wounds on Madam Seow, using so much force that at least three of the blows fractured her face.
“Due to his selfish intention to take her passport and take money from (her employer), he stabbed her so brutally in the face and neck so many times that she bled to death,” the DPP said.
Daryati replied, “Initially I wanted to get my passport back, but I couldn’t control my anger. I couldn’t control my hands that stabbed Madam.”
The DPP maintained that Daryati had control over his actions and did not suffer from any mental condition that substantially affected his responsibility for his actions.
Daryati disagreed and said through an interpreter: “I was in a very angry state. I was very excited and I couldn’t control my hands.”
The DPP also took Daryati through her police statements to show that she was prepared to kill Madam Seow.
She had said in a statement: “If you refused to give me my passport, I would have killed her.”
Daryati initially faced the mandatory death penalty for murder.
In April, after a 17-day trial, he admitted to a misdemeanor charge of murder, which carries life in prison or the death penalty, but prosecutors said they were not pushing for capital punishment.
In a twist last month, he dropped his guilty plea in hopes of obtaining a lower sentence by calling defense psychiatrist Tommy Tan to testify that he suffered from a mental condition that lessened his responsibility for his actions.
Dr. Tan and the prosecution psychiatrist, Dr. Jaydip Sarkar, are expected to testify when the trial continues next year.
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