SHAH ALAM: Indonesian maid Muntik Bani was beaten in the legs and hands by her male employer with an iron rod and broomstick, the High Court here heard yesterday.Insp Mohd Azan Radzali, 30, from the Klang police headquarters and an investigating officer (IO) in the case, said this was told to him by Muntik when he visited the maid while she was being treated at the intensive care unit of the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang, a day after she was found locked up in a toilet at the home of her employer on Oct 20 last year.
“When I noticed she had a wound in her right calf, I asked her who had been responsible and she replied that ‘bapak’ (Indonesian for male boss) had beaten her with an iron rod and on asking further why her right hand was folded behind her back, she answered that ‘bapak’ had hit it with a broomstick.
“I also asked her how long she had been confined in the toilet and she answered that it was two days, two nights.
“I then asked her how she could be in the toilet and she said ‘bapak’ had lifted her and placed her there.
“I also asked her female employer whether she had beaten the maid but she denied doing so,” he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar.
Mohd Azan was testifying at the trial of night market trader A Murugan, 35, who is charged with murdering Muntik, 40, at No. 11, Jalan Datuk Yusof Shahbudin 6, Taman Sentosa, Klang, between Oct 18 and 20 last year.
He has been charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code and faces the mandatory death sentence, if convicted.
Muntik, who hailed from Surabaya, died at HTAR on Oct 26.
Mohd Azan also said while at the ICU of HTAR, he noticed a copy of an X-ray of the victim which showed there was a fracture in her backbone and when he queried on the matter with Dr Norliza Ibrahim, the attending doctor who was also with him then, the doctor affirmed it to be the case.
“I then asked Dr Norliza if a person could walk with such a fracture, she answered it was not possible and when I queried further what normally caused an injury like this, Dr Norliza said such injuries were usually caused by falling from a height or being beaten with a hard object,” he said.
The hearing before Judicial Commissioner Mohd Yazid Mustafa continues today. — Bernama