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Not ‘cold and calculated’: High Court judge on why maid who murdered employer was spared gallows

SINGAPORE — The “particular and unique” circumstances of domestic worker Daryati killing her female employer in 2016 “did not outrage the feelings of the community”, a High Court judge has said in her reasons for imposing life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.

The wake of the late Seow Kim Choo along Telok Kurau Lorong H in Singapore on June 9, 2016.

The wake of the late Seow Kim Choo along Telok Kurau Lorong H in Singapore on June 9, 2016.

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  • Daryati, a domestic worker, stabbed her employer to death in June 2016 as part of a plan to return to Indonesia
  • She was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on April 23
  • The High Court has now elaborated on the reasons why Daryati got the jail sentence rather than the death penalty

 

SINGAPORE — The “particular and unique” circumstances of domestic worker Daryati killing her female employer in 2016 “did not outrage the feelings of the community”, a High Court judge has said in her reasons for imposing life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.

Daryati, now 28, who goes by only one name, was sentenced on April 23 following a trial. Justice Valerie Thean released the full grounds for her decision on Thursday (June 10).

The Indonesian worker was convicted of a capital murder charge, which carries either a life sentence or the death penalty. The prosecution did not seek the death penalty.

She then unsuccessfully tried to have her charge reduced further by arguing that she suffered from persistent depressive disorder, which substantially affected her mental responsibility for the killing.

She had earlier admitted to intentionally stabbing Seow Kim Choo, then 59, almost a hundred times at the deceased's semi-detached house on Lorong H Telok Kurau in Joo Chiat on June 7, 2016. She also attacked Seow’s husband, businessman Ong Thiam Soon, with a knife.

Daryati had plotted with the family’s other domestic worker to rob their employer, retrieve her passport and flee back to Indonesia. She also wrote in her diary about carrying out the plan quickly and added: “My employer's family is my target. DEATH!!!”

On Thursday, Justice Thean referred to the Court of Appeal’s decision in the case of a brothel owner who was spared the gallows for murder.

The apex court had said that a death sentence was warranted where an offender’s actions outrage the feelings of the community, and when these actions “exhibit viciousness or a blatant disregard for human life”.

Justice Thean said that this did not apply to Daryati’s case.

Among the reasons for this was that she was young — in her early 20s — at the time of the murder, and did not have much experience outside of her Indonesian village before her departure, the judge added.

Daryati had also felt compelled by the financial strain on her family to leave for Singapore.

In addition, she testified during her trial that she was raped and sexually assaulted by her older brother when she was between 14 and 15 years old. She said that there were more than 10 incidents over a single year, and she kept silent due to her brother’s threats and violence.

When she began working for Seow, she had two different relationships with other women in Indonesia, and began missing her lover who was working in Hong Kong. She also grew homesick.

“The specific nature of the incident did not reflect a cold and calculated killing, but rather, intense panic and distress in executing her plan to return home. I therefore exercised my discretion to impose a term of life imprisonment,” Justice Thean wrote.

In her grounds of decision, the judge also elaborated on her reasons for dismissing the defence’s case that Daryati had persistent depressive disorder at the time.

The psychiatrist who diagnosed her with the mental disorder had relied on her self-reported symptoms, such as loss of appetite and suicidal mood, with no independent facts to corroborate them.

Because of this, Justice Thean accepted the contrasting opinion of the prosecution’s psychiatrist.

Related topics

court crime death employer foreign domestic worker murder death penalty

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