http://www.channelnewsasia.com/mobile/singapore/indonesian-maid-jailed-18/2833164.html
Indonesian maid jailed 18 years for killing employer, socialite Nancy Gan
By Vanessa Paige Chelvan
POSTED: 31 May 2016 18:46 **UPDATED: 31 May 2016 19:02
File photo of the late*socialite and philanthropist Nancy Gan's home*at Victoria Park Road. (Photo: Xabryna Kek)
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SINGAPORE: Twenty-year-old Indonesian maid Dewi Sukowati was sentenced to 18 years’ jail on Tuesday (May 31) for killing her employer, socialite Nancy Gan.
Madam Gan’s body was found face down in the swimming pool of her Victoria Park Road bungalow on Mar 19, 2014, six days after Dewi began working for her.
The High Court heard that on the day of the crime, Mdm Gan had scolded Dewi and threatened to slash her pay for serving her using a plastic tray, instead of a silver tray.
Dewi, then 18, “lost control” after Mdm Gan splashed a glass of water on the maid’s face and hit her head with a plastic tray, prosecutors told the court on Tuesday. She grabbed hold of Mdm Gan’s hair, swinging the 69-year-old’s head against the wall, and Mdm Gan collapsed, unconscious and bleeding profusely from the back of her head.*
When the maid turned Mdm Gan's body over and placed her ear on the latter's chest, she heard a faint heartbeat. Worried that her employer would wake up and call the police, Dewi dragged the body by the hair to the swimming pool, slamming Mdm Gan’s head against a step along the way. She flipped Mdm Gan’s body face down into the pool and threw the woman’s sandals in as well, to make it seem as though Mdm Gan had committed suicide.
To cover up evidence of the crime, Dewi cleaned up the trail of blood by mopping the floor several times and changed out of her blood-soaked clothes.
She then walked next door to the neighbour’s house, intending to ask for help, but flagged down a passing dispatch rider instead. “Help me, my employer is in the swimming pool," she told him. The man, upon seeing Mdm Gan’s bloodied body in the pool, called the police.
An autopsy found Mdm Gan had sustained multiple external and internal injuries, including skull fractures, consistent with blunt force trauma. Her cause of death was recorded as “drowning contributed by contused brain due to fractured skull”.
“SENSELESS BRUTALITY, MINDLESS VIOLENCE”: PROSECUTION
The prosecution urged the court to impose a sentence of 20 years’ jail on Dewi, citing the “senseless brutality and mindless violence” with which she killed Mdm Gan and arguing that the maid’s actions were “manifestly disproportionate” to any degree of resentment towards her employer that might have been built up over six days.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Min Ping added that although Dewi may have acted in “hot blood” in swinging Mdm Gan’s head against the wall, she had 10 minutes to “compose herself and calm down”, before she realised Mdm Gan was still alive, albeit unconscious.
The maid then “decided to finish her off” by drowning Mdm Gan in the swimming pool and staging a suicide. This clearly shows Dewi’s subsequent actions were deliberate, and that she “had the presence of mind to engage in some thought and planning”, DPP Chee said.
EMPLOYER ABUSED DEWI: DEFENCE
After her arrest, Dewi was diagnosed with Acute Stress Reaction by an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said Dewi’s “young age … sudden dispatch to a vastly different culture … (and) her past history of abuse (which) enhanced (her) sensitivity to further abuse at the hands of a perfectionistic employer” had caused the maid to “react instantaneously without heed of the consequences”, a report stated.
Dewi’s lawyer Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed contended that Mdm Gan – “fussy and (a) perfectionist” – had provoked the maid by making insulting and demeaning remarks.*
On Dewi’s first day, Mdm Gan allegedly hit her with a broomstick, kicked the maid and hit her fingers with a plate, the lawyer said, adding that Mdm Gan had similarly abused her previous maids.
Mdm Gan’s handyman, who was interviewed by an IMH psychiatrist after her death, described his former employer as a “perfectionist”, and said she would “nag and scold” employees often.
In addition, Mr Muzammil said Dewi had been physically abused by her father in Indonesia, and at the age of 18 lied about her age to work in Singapore and get away from her abusive father, he told the court.
However, an Indonesian recruiter sent her to Singapore to work as a maid without any preparation or training, Mr Muzammil said.
He added that though more than two years have passed, Dewi still cries when she relates the events of Mar 19, 2014. The lawyer suggested that 10 to 12 years’ jail would be an appropriate sentence for her crime.
Dewi, originally charged for murder, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. For the reduced charge, she could have received up to 20 years’ jail and a fine, or life imprisonment.*
- CNA/mz
Indonesian maid jailed 18 years for killing employer, socialite Nancy Gan
By Vanessa Paige Chelvan
POSTED: 31 May 2016 18:46 **UPDATED: 31 May 2016 19:02
File photo of the late*socialite and philanthropist Nancy Gan's home*at Victoria Park Road. (Photo: Xabryna Kek)
A
A
SINGAPORE: Twenty-year-old Indonesian maid Dewi Sukowati was sentenced to 18 years’ jail on Tuesday (May 31) for killing her employer, socialite Nancy Gan.
Madam Gan’s body was found face down in the swimming pool of her Victoria Park Road bungalow on Mar 19, 2014, six days after Dewi began working for her.
The High Court heard that on the day of the crime, Mdm Gan had scolded Dewi and threatened to slash her pay for serving her using a plastic tray, instead of a silver tray.
Dewi, then 18, “lost control” after Mdm Gan splashed a glass of water on the maid’s face and hit her head with a plastic tray, prosecutors told the court on Tuesday. She grabbed hold of Mdm Gan’s hair, swinging the 69-year-old’s head against the wall, and Mdm Gan collapsed, unconscious and bleeding profusely from the back of her head.*
When the maid turned Mdm Gan's body over and placed her ear on the latter's chest, she heard a faint heartbeat. Worried that her employer would wake up and call the police, Dewi dragged the body by the hair to the swimming pool, slamming Mdm Gan’s head against a step along the way. She flipped Mdm Gan’s body face down into the pool and threw the woman’s sandals in as well, to make it seem as though Mdm Gan had committed suicide.
To cover up evidence of the crime, Dewi cleaned up the trail of blood by mopping the floor several times and changed out of her blood-soaked clothes.
She then walked next door to the neighbour’s house, intending to ask for help, but flagged down a passing dispatch rider instead. “Help me, my employer is in the swimming pool," she told him. The man, upon seeing Mdm Gan’s bloodied body in the pool, called the police.
An autopsy found Mdm Gan had sustained multiple external and internal injuries, including skull fractures, consistent with blunt force trauma. Her cause of death was recorded as “drowning contributed by contused brain due to fractured skull”.
“SENSELESS BRUTALITY, MINDLESS VIOLENCE”: PROSECUTION
The prosecution urged the court to impose a sentence of 20 years’ jail on Dewi, citing the “senseless brutality and mindless violence” with which she killed Mdm Gan and arguing that the maid’s actions were “manifestly disproportionate” to any degree of resentment towards her employer that might have been built up over six days.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Min Ping added that although Dewi may have acted in “hot blood” in swinging Mdm Gan’s head against the wall, she had 10 minutes to “compose herself and calm down”, before she realised Mdm Gan was still alive, albeit unconscious.
The maid then “decided to finish her off” by drowning Mdm Gan in the swimming pool and staging a suicide. This clearly shows Dewi’s subsequent actions were deliberate, and that she “had the presence of mind to engage in some thought and planning”, DPP Chee said.
EMPLOYER ABUSED DEWI: DEFENCE
After her arrest, Dewi was diagnosed with Acute Stress Reaction by an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said Dewi’s “young age … sudden dispatch to a vastly different culture … (and) her past history of abuse (which) enhanced (her) sensitivity to further abuse at the hands of a perfectionistic employer” had caused the maid to “react instantaneously without heed of the consequences”, a report stated.
Dewi’s lawyer Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed contended that Mdm Gan – “fussy and (a) perfectionist” – had provoked the maid by making insulting and demeaning remarks.*
On Dewi’s first day, Mdm Gan allegedly hit her with a broomstick, kicked the maid and hit her fingers with a plate, the lawyer said, adding that Mdm Gan had similarly abused her previous maids.
Mdm Gan’s handyman, who was interviewed by an IMH psychiatrist after her death, described his former employer as a “perfectionist”, and said she would “nag and scold” employees often.
In addition, Mr Muzammil said Dewi had been physically abused by her father in Indonesia, and at the age of 18 lied about her age to work in Singapore and get away from her abusive father, he told the court.
However, an Indonesian recruiter sent her to Singapore to work as a maid without any preparation or training, Mr Muzammil said.
He added that though more than two years have passed, Dewi still cries when she relates the events of Mar 19, 2014. The lawyer suggested that 10 to 12 years’ jail would be an appropriate sentence for her crime.
Dewi, originally charged for murder, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. For the reduced charge, she could have received up to 20 years’ jail and a fine, or life imprisonment.*
- CNA/mz
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