KUALA LUMPUR: A businessman told a Sessions Court here yesterday that he knew his wife’s character and said she definitely would not have abused their former Indonesian maid Nirmala Bonat.
Hii Ik Tiing, 42, said the allegations by Nirmala that his wife Yim Pek Ha had used a hot electric iron on her back in January 2004 because she did not iron clothes smoothly was a lie.
He said Yim whom he married in December 1995 was a friendly, polite, caring person who forgives easily after any quarrel.
“I know my wife did not do it. If she had done it, Nirmala would have told me that she was abused by my wife,” the 10th defence witness testified before Judge Akhtar Tahir yesterday.
Questioned by lawyer Akbardin Abd Kadir if his former maid talked to him directly, Hii said Nirmala had even rushed to him when his son almost fell from a chair in their living room.
Hii said he would have known about the alleged incident as he operated his business from his apartment in Jalan Tun Ismail during the period.
Besides that, the father of four said, Nirmala would normally iron clothes after dinner or during weekends when all his family members were not around.
Housewife Yim, 40, is facing four counts of causing grievous hurt to her former maid Nirmala at Villa Putera apartment between January and May 2004.
Asked if he has heard his maid screaming or suffering in pain while she was staying in his apartment, he said he did not.
To a question, Hii said he did not see any injury on the maid’s back as she was clothed.
He described Nirmala, who came to work for his family on Sept 15, 2003, as a lazy person and a liar.
Hii said Nirmala tried to walk out from working for them on Feb 25, 2004, after being scolded by Yim.
He said he got a call from Yim over the incident and upon returning to his house was shocked to find blood on the floor and wall outside his apartment.
“I saw Nirmala standing at the lift corner. I told her if she did not want to work, I could send her back to her agent but she just kept quiet, her head bowed. I told her to go back to the apartment,” he added.
He said he assumed that Nirmala had hit her face on the wall that day as he saw bloodstains on her nose, lips and T-shirt.
Earlier, the court allowed an application by the defence to use a witness statement by Indonesian maid Fermina Anunut, who claimed to have known Nirmala, as evidence.
ASP Ranjit Singh who recorded Fermina’s cautioned statement, read out the statement.
He testified that Fermina told him that she had known Nirmala since she was two years old who had been insane for some time and had been admitted to a hospital in Kupang for her condition when she was still very young.
He said Fermina told him that Nirmala suffered from epilepsy and often grabbed a knife to cut her body and hands but would be stopped by her grandmother.
The hearing continues today.
