He told the Sessions Court that a friend had offered to find a psychiatrist who would examine his wife and say she had mental problems.
"I declined it. If it were true that my wife had abused our former maid, Nirmala Bonat, we had the time to run away but we did not."
Instead, he had asked his lawyers to apply to the court to have an independent psychiatrist evaluate Nirmala because she could have hurt herself.
"My lawyers told me that if the results turned out to be unfavourable to us, it would jeopardise our case. But I still asked them to proceed."
Asked by counsel Akbardin Abdul Kader why he told his lawyers to proceed with the application, Hii, 42, said: "I knew definitely that my wife did not do it and she does not have a mental problem.
"If my wife is a violent person, as Nirmala has claimed, I would never have lived with her as she could have attacked me and our four children at anytime. But, in 13 years of marriage, no such thing has happened to my family."
Hii, a businessman, took the stand for the second day, testifying in the trial of his wife.
Yim, 40, a housewife who was formerly an airline stewardess, 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 with hitting her with a metal cup on May 17, 2004.
Hii said that if his wife had actually hurt Nirmala, then she deserved to go to jail. He told the court this was what he told the press four years ago when police detained Yim.
Akbardin: What was in your mind when you said this?
Hii: I strongly believed that my wife did not do it.
Akbardin: Why do you think that Nirmala accused your wife of hurting her and not you?
Hii: I suspect that she was angry with my wife for scolding her.
However, he disagreed with counsel when it was suggested that he was being protective of his wife (in giving his testimony).
During cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Farhan Read, Hii said he did not consider the blood stains on the wall and floor near the lift lobby on the 25th floor of the condominium, which he saw on Feb 25, 2004, as serious.
Neither did he take it seriously when he saw Nirmala standing in a corner with bloodstains on her lips and T-shirt, he said.
Hii, however, told the court that he had asked Nirmala what had happened and had offered to take her to the clinic.
Farhan: What did you think when you were informed by your wife that Nirmala banged her head against the wall?
Hii: I didn't think it was abnormal. People can bang their heads on a wall when they have a headache. I bang my head when it is very painful, but I don't do it with much force.
He described Nirmala as a quiet person who spoke very softly. "At the same time, she was very stubborn."
Hearing before Judge Akhtar Tahir continues.
