Witness hears maid saying: "I killed someone"

A murder trial witness told the court that she heard Indonesian maid, Wilfrida Soik, 23, in tears saying "I killed someone" while walking in front of her house in December 2010. The witness, a villager in Tok Uban, Pasir Mas, Nik Hamidah Nik Yahya, 54, said her husband Mansor Sulaiman, 61, became concerned and told her to bring the accused into the house. "She just kept repeating "I'm dead! I'm dead! I killed someone"," she said in response to Wilfrida's defence counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah at the High Court here today. Nik Hamidah was testifying in the trial of Wilfrida who is charged with the murder of 60-year-old Yeap Seok Pen, at a house in Kampung Chabang Empat Tok Uban, Pasir Mas between 11 am and 12.30 pm on Dec 7 2010. The accused, who had been working for just two weeks in the victim's house, is accused of using a sharp weapon to cause severe injuries to Seok Pen's face leading to death. She faces the mandatory death sentence under Section 302 of the Penal Code, upon conviction. Nik Hamidah said while Wilfrida was in her house she also said "someone wants to beat and strangle me", but it was not clear what she meant. "I thought maybe she was a rape victim. So to calm her down I gave her some clothes and asked her to take a shower but she didn't want to. She also refused to eat or drink," she said. The witness said that later on she saw the police taking the accused away from the neighbour's house compound where she had been detained. Nik Hamidah's husband, Mansor testified earlier that the accused was crying and walking in the drizzle outside his house and he had asked his wife to bring her in. "I drove out after awhile but turned back home and called the police after hearing of a murder on the Rukun Tetangga walkie-talkie. The description of the accused sounded like the maid who was in my house at the time," he said. Another witness today was the owner of an employment agency, SP Master Sdn Bhd, Teh Ying Eng, 52, who testified that he did not know Wilfrida had to also clean her employer, a Parkinson's patient. "I didn't know this, but we did train her in housework, caring for the sick and looking after children for a week before sending her to work there," he said. The trial resumes on Jan 26 before Judge Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim. The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim.