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An Indonesian domestic worker who stabbed her employer more than 90 times told the High Court yesterday that she was repeatedly raped by her older brother as a teenager.
Daryati testified that she used to manage by tapping on her bedroom wall to vent her feelings.
She continues to be affected by the abuse and is receiving psychiatric treatment in prison, he said.
The Indonesian, who said she was two years younger than her official age of 28, took the stand for the first time when her murder trial resumed.
Daryati initially faced the mandatory death penalty for murder, under Section 300 (a) of the Penal Code, for repeatedly stabbing and stabbing Madame Seow Kim Choo, 59, at her Telok Kurau home on 7 May. June 2016.
In April this year, after a 17-day trial, prosecutors lowered the charge to murder under Section 300 (c), which carries life in prison or the death penalty, but said they were not pushing for capital punishment.
Daryati admitted the reduced charge and was convicted.
But in a twist last month, she withdrew her guilty plea in hopes of getting a lower sentence based on psychiatric evidence.
Yesterday she testified that she wanted to return home less than two months after starting work in April 2016 because she was concerned for her family, who could not be reached.
She said that she was “very angry” at Madame Seow for not allowing her to go home.
But he maintained that he had no intention of killing his employer and that he had simply planned to use a knife to scare Madame Seow into giving him her passport.
“If he intended to kill her, why would he inflict so many wounds on her?” she said through an interpreter.
She said that Madam Seow and her husband, Mr. Ong Thiam Soon, then 57, treated her well and gave her enough food and rest.
However, he did not have a mobile phone to communicate with his family and his lover or any television or radio to entertain himself. He had no day off and was allowed to leave the house only to walk the dogs.
Weeks after starting work, Daryati spoke to her mother on the phone for about 10 minutes, but was unable to speak to her lover.
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