Myanmar domestic helper found guilty of murdering Singapore employer’s elderly mother-in-law
- Zin Mar Nwe stabbed the 70-year-old to death in 2018 after the woman had threatened to send her back to her agent
- A judge rejected the worker’s claim that she was suffering from an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing
Delivering the verdict, Justice Andre Maniam said that Zin Mar Nwe, then 17, had stabbed the 70-year-old victim, after the elderly woman had threatened to send her back to her agent.
He rejected the defence’s arguments that Zin Mar Nwe, now around 22, had not been conscious of the stabbing, that she was in a dissociative state of mind, or that she was suffering from an abnormality of mind.
“The accused’s decision to stab the deceased was an emotional, irrational one. But that, per se, does not mean that the accused was suffering from an abnormality of mind caused by mental illness,” said Justice Maniam.
The court previously heard that Zin Mar Nwe arrived in Singapore on January 5, 2018. While her passport stated her age as 23, investigations later revealed she was 17.
After two employers, Zin Mar Nwe began working for the victim’s son-in-law on May 10, 2018. She stayed with her employer, his wife and two teenage daughters.