UPDATE AS OF THURSDAY (JUNE 9) AFTERNOON: The maid has been charged for the murder of her female employer.
She came to Singapore less than three months ago.
Wariwati, 23, who was from Lampung province in South Sumatra, Indonesia, was tasked with caring for her employer’s newborn grandson.
She generally kept to herself and rarely stepped out of her employer’s three-storey semi-detached house at 50C, Lorong H Telok Kurau, off Telok Kurau Road.
But on Tuesday night, her stint here turned bloody after she allegedly killed her employer, Madam Seow Kim Choo, 59.
The Straits Times, The New Paper
Madam Seow’s husband, Mr Ong Thiam Soon, 57, found his wife lying in the bathroom before he was also allegedly attacked by the maid.
He suffered injuries to his neck, forehead and legs.
By the time paramedics found Madam Seow, she was motionless. She was pronounced dead at 9.03pm.
Related: Maid ‘agitated’ after she could not reach family in Indonesia
The maid was arrested and is expected to be charged with murder in court today.
She becomes at least the sixth maid to be charged for killing an employer or an employer’s family member in the last three years.
Most recently, Dewi Sukowati, 20, an Indonesian, was jailed 18 years last month for killing her 69-year-old employer Nancy Gan in March 2014, after Madam Gan had ill-treated her by hitting her with a plastic tray.
Two other maids – Tuti Aeliyah, 30, an Indonesian, and Than Than Win, 25, from Myanmar – were diagnosed with depression with psychotic symptoms at the time of their offences.
Tuti stabbed and strangled her employer’s 16-year-old daughter and claimed a ghost told her to do so, while Than stabbed her employer’s mother-in-law after she was scolded.
Read also: Maid stabs granny more than 20 times after scolding
Although the circumstances surrounding Wariwati’s case remain unknown for now, Mr Ong told reporters yesterday that he and his family had treated her well.
Mr Ong, the director of an engineering and logistics company, told Shin Min Daily News that he and his wife already had a maid, but had hired Wariwati sometime between February and March to care for their newborn grandson.
“Our family was very good to her. We gave her a lot of freedom. We would even prepare dinner for her first before we have our own,” he said.
One of his two sons, Mr Andrew Ong, who manages a fish farm in Malaysia, told The New Paper yesterday: “I’m really not angry with the maid. Whatever has happened has happened.”
When TNP visited the semi-detached house yesterday, the family was seen preparing for Madam Seow’s wake.
Maids who live nearby told TNP that Wariwati mostly kept to herself.
They said that the family’s other maid had been hired about six months ago and mostly looked after the family’s two dogs.
Related: 3 passers-by stumble upon bloody murder scene
SHY
A maid who worked nearby and who wanted to be known only as Ms Tuse, 40, said that three other maids had worked for the family, but have since left, in the last eight months.
Another 45-year-old Indonesian maid, who worked in the area and who declined to be named, said Wariwati was very shy.
She said Wariwati would leave the house only to walk the dogs, or when taking the young children out for a stroll.
“Not many people knew about her. Not even among us maids,” she said.
She described Mr Ong and Madam Seow as a very pleasant and friendly couple.
– Additional reporting by Ong Yan Quan
He found wife lying on toilet floor
It was 8pm – the time Mr Ong Thiam Soon would watch television with his wife every night.
Except that on Tuesday, Madam Seow Kim Choo, 59, was nowhere to be found in their three-storey semi-detached house in Telok Kurau, even after he repeatedly called out for her.
As Mr Ong, 57, searched for her, he found that the second-storey toilet was locked.
He told Shin Min Daily News: “I knocked on the door, but there was no response.”
Worried, he retrieved the keys and unlocked the door.
As he slid it open, he was horrified to find that the toilet floor was covered in blood.
But before he had time to react, his maid, Wariwati, rushed out of the toilet, and allegedly slashed his neck with two fruit knives.
Even as Mr Ong was bleeding profusely, he saw his wife lying on the toilet floor.
He tried restraining the maid, and a short struggle ensued before she calmed down.
Mr Ong took the opportunity to rush to his wife, who was unconscious and covered in blood.
But his maid got back up and allegedly slashed his legs with the knives.
Hearing the commotion, his other maid rushed over, but ran away screaming.
His daughter-in-law, who was on the first storey, called the police before going to his aid.
They managed to subdue the maid and tie her hands.
Police said they were alerted to the incident at 8.48pm.
A spokesman said a 59-year-old woman was found lying motionless in the bathroom, and was pronounced dead by paramedics at 9.03pm.
He added that a 23-year-old woman was arrested in relation to the case, which has been classified as murder.
Mr Ong was taken to Changi General Hospital and underwent surgery for injuries to his neck, forehead and leg.
Speaking to reporters in his ward yesterday, Mr Ong said that his wife helped out at his company.
A check with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority showed that Mr Ong was listed as a director of a logistics and engineering company.
He told Shin Min Daily News that he was illiterate, so Madam Seow would handle the administrative matters in his company on top of the household chores.
This article was first published on June 9, 2016.
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