KUALA LUMPUR: Housewife Yim Pek Ha had once slapped Nirmala Bonat as her former Indonesian maid "might have got on her nerves", her husband told the Sessions Court yesterday.
Hii Ik Tiing said that his wife had told him about the incident.
"To me, a slap is not a violent act," the 42-year-old said under cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Farhan Read.
Farhan had asked him if his wife was capable of being violent.
Hii said the slapping incident did not portray Yim's true character which he described as someone patient and caring.
"This is not her normal character. Nirmala might have got on her nerves, prompting her to do so," he said.
Asked if Yim had ever slapped him or their children, Hii said: "No. I have not got on her nerves yet."
At this juncture, judge Akhtar Tahir asked the witness if this meant that his wife would slap him if he annoyed her.
"Well, she might (slap me). I can't give a definite answer," he said.
Hii was testifying in the trial of Yim who is charged with scorching Nirmala with a hot iron and scalding her with hot water at her Villa Putra condominium in Jalan Tun Ismail here in January, March and April 2004 and hitting her with a metal cup on May 17, 2004.
He told the court that he was not afraid when two security guards at his condominium came to his unit with Nirmala on the evening of May 17, 2004.
Neither was he concerned when the maid's employment agency informed him that day that a police report had been lodged against him by the guards.
"I did not do anything to her," he said.
Farhan: Did the allegations cause you alarm?
Hii: Not at that time. It is normal for people to lodge police reports.
Farhan: Is it normal for people to lodge police reports against you?
Hii: It is not.
Hii agreed with Farhan's suggestion that he had not seen his wife abusing Nirmala.
He also agreed that he had never seen Nirmala behaving strangely.
During re-examination by defence counsel Akbardin Abdul Kader, Hii said he was not concerned about the police being called by the guards on May 17, 2004.
"We did not do anything to Nirmala. However, I'd be very concerned if I had seen the injuries on her body."
The court also heard submissions from the prosecution and the defence on the admissibility of four schedules prepared by Hii.
These were prepared at the instruction of lead counsel Jagjit Singh to show the whereabouts of Hii and his family in the months when the abuse had allegedly taken place.
Deputy public prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran submitted that the four schedules should not be accepted as they were merely documentary hearsay.
She said the information stated in the documents could be found elsewhere, for example, in telephone bills and bank slips.
"These documents must be proven first," she said.
Jagjit, in his submission, said the schedules were not documentary hearsay as they were not produced by a third party.
"The prosecution can challenge the documents if they want to. We have all the necessary documents if there is a need for them to be produced," he said.
At this juncture, Akhtar asked why the whereabouts of Hii and his family needed to be documented.
"He can be asked orally about where they were. The witness can always refer to the schedules if there is a need to refresh his memory."
Akhtar said he would make a decision on the matter when hearing continues on July 24.
