PUTRAJAYA: A 26-year-old Indonesian maid was overjoyed after the Federal Court changed her manslaughter charge for causing her employer's death to one of grievous hurt using a dangerous weapon.
Herlina Trisnawati, dressed in a floral printed yellow baju kebaya, clasped her hands and let out a soft cry of relief and thanked her counsel T. Vijayandran after learning she would be released in two months since her incarceration since 2001.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Justice Arifin Zakaria and Abdul Aziz Mohammad unanimously ruled that the manslaughter charge against Herlina Trisnawati could not be sustained and gave her a 10-year jail term from the date of arrest.
"There is no evidence to say that the accused (Herlina) had caused the death of the deceased. The injuries could have been caused by a fall," said Justice Malanjum, who dismissed the prosecution's appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to substitute her murder charge to one of manslaughter.
However, he added that the judges were satisfied that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to show that Herlina must have inflicted injuries on her employer, Soon Lay Chuan's neck using a weapon.
On Nov 4, 2004, Herlina, from Surabaya, was convicted by the Shah Alam High Court of murdering 32-year-old Soon in Subang Jaya on Aug 14, 2001 at 3pm.
A year later, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's decision and substituted it with a manslaughter charge instead.
During mitigation yesterday, Vijayandran told the court that Herlina, who had suffered constant physical and verbal abuse by Soon prior to the incident, had no reason to kill her employer.
He said Herlina had come here to earn a decent living and support her family in Indonesia.
Justice Malanjum then retorted: "She must have suffered from a battered maid syndrome."
