Maid who killed employer alleged that she was abused for six days

The maid was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment at the High Court on Tuesday (31 May) - Yahoo file picture

Dewi Sukowati was unhappy with her employer who had allegedly abused the Indonesian maid since her first day of work at a bungalow in Bukit Timah in March 2014.

After experiencing the alleged abuse from Nancy Gan Wan Geok for six consecutive days, then 18-year-old Dewi snapped on the morning of 19 March 2014. The petite woman banged Gan’s head against a wall before slamming it against a ceramic step and disposing the body of the 69-year-old Singaporean into a swimming pool.

On Tuesday (31 May), 20-year-old Dewi pleaded guilty in the High Court to one charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Appearing before Justice Foo Chee Hock, Dewi looked calm as she was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment, which was backdated to the day of the incident and her arrest on 19 March 2014.

Court papers revealed that Dewi had arrived from Semarang, Indonesia, on 13 March 2014 and was placed to work as a maid at Gan’s bungalow at Victoria Park Road. The victim was a well-known philanthropist who was married to former Hong Kong Legislative Council politician, Hilton Cheong-leen.

Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed, Dewi’s lawyer, told the court that the maid had alleged that she was abused daily by Gan from the day that she started working.

Maid lost control and attacked victim

On the day of the incident, Dewi had woken up at 5.30 am, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) James Low revealed. She was going about her daily chores when Gan rang the call bell to signal Dewi to bring a glass of water to Gan’s bedroom.

Upon entering the bedroom, Gan scolded Dewi in Bahasa Indonesia, accusing the maid of using the wrong type of tray for the glass of water despite having been instructed before. Gan then splashed the water onto Dewi’s face and threw the tray on the floor. Dewi was about to pick up the tray when Gan snatched it and hit the maid’s head with it.

Gan also told Dewi that she would reduce the maid’s pay to $200 a month. Upon hearing the threat, Dewi lost control of herself and grabbed hold of Gan’s hair and hands and swung her employer’s head against the wall.

DPP Low said that Dewi wanted to slam Gan’s face against the wall but the older woman resisted, which led to the back of her head hitting the wall. Gan collapsed from the impact and was unconscious.

Dewi then noticed that her employer was bleeding profusely from the back of her head and panicked as she was unsure whether Gan was still alive. She checked to see if Gan was still breathing after 10 minutes and realised that her employer was alive.

Worried that Gan would call the police if she were to regain consciousness, Dewi decided to place Gan’s body in the swimming pool of the house to an attempt to drown her and make it look like a suicide.

While she was dragging the body to the swimming pool, she was reminded of the abuse and criticism from Gan and became angry again. Dewi then slammed Gan’s head against the edge of a ceramic-tiled step, causing the already bloodied head to bleed further.

Upon reaching the swimming pool, Dewi flipped Gan’s body face down into the pool before throwing Gan’s sandals into the pool to give the impression that her employer had committed suicide.

Attempted to cover up

Dewi then started to clean up the blood trial by mopping the floor several times before changing out of her blood-stained clothing. She then went across the road to alert a neighbour.

Before the neighbour could answer the door, Dewi spotted a despatch rider and alerted him that her “employer is in the swimming pool”. The despatch rider rang for police assistance.

While waiting for the police, Dewi broke down. She was promptly arrested when police arrived at the scene.

In mitigation, Muzammil said that Gan had abused Dewi during the six days that she was working in the Bukit Timah bungalow. Muzammil added that Gan repeatedly called Dewi “stupid” and had used a broom to hit the maid’s head on her first day on the job.

According to Muzammil, Dewi studied until secondary three and had a bad relationship with her father, who constantly hit her.

Dewi’s parents, Sukilan and Sutriswati, had flown in from Semarang and were in the High Court when she was sentenced. They were given time to speak to their daughter after the trial ended.

Sutriswati, 45, was seen wiping the tears off Dewi’s cheeks and comforting her eldest daughter. Dewi has two younger sisters aged 17 and four.

Speaking to Yahoo Singapore after the trial, Sukilan, 49, said that he was not happy with the sentence. “Personally, I think it is not fair. Dewi was alone (when it happened) and there were no other people (witnesses) when it happened. She is a very soft-spoken person and I was surprised that this happened.

“Her younger sister (17) is affected by it and as of now, we will leave it up to the lawyer to advice us accordingly,” said Sukilan.