Couple had on-off love affair; She found out Bangladeshi is married but later resumed relationship

FAMILY MAN: Kamrul Hasan has a wife and two children in Bangladesh. ST FILE PICTURE

ELECTRIC NEWS - MAID'S MURDER, February 07, 2009 

By Arul John

THE lovers were together, then apart and then together again - all in just 10 weeks.

Miss Yulia Afriyanti, 25, and construction worker Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus, 35, had initially planned to marry in late 2007.

But in October that year, she found out that he was married with a wife and two children back in Bangladesh.

Miss Yulia, an Indonesian maid, then broke up with Kamrul Hasan and later got into a relationship with Mr Joseph Guerzon Corpuz, a Filipino national working in Singapore.

On 15 Nov 2007, she told Kamrul Hasan to forget her and that she wanted to marry Mr Corpuz.

But by early December, Miss Yulia and Kamrul were back together. She told Mr Corpuz that she would marry Kamrul Hasan.

Meeting his family

She subsequently told him she would be accompanying Kamrul Hasan to Changi Airport on 16Dec to receive his mother, brother and sister, who were visiting Singapore from Bangladesh.

But that meeting never took place because Miss Yulia was found dead that day.

An autopsy performed the next day showed that she had died of suffocation caused by strangulation.

Kamrul Hasan is accused of murdering Miss Yulia.

The details of their relationship were revealed in the prosecution's opening address yesterday, the first day of Kamrul Hasan's trial.

Miss Yulia first came to Singapore on 19Feb 2004 to work as a maid.

A year later, she became acquainted with Kamrul Hasan, whom she had met during a party, according to court papers.

She returned to Indonesia on 10May 2006 but kept in touch with him.

Re-employed

After she returned here two months later to be re-employed as a maid, she and Kamrul Hasan became lovers.

On 1Dec 2006, she started working for a Mexican family. The couple continued to see each other after her employers moved from Tanjung Rhu to Grange Road in September 2007.

Court papers showed that Miss Yulia had told her family, employers, employment agency and friends that she planned to stop working here and return to Indonesia before 13Oct 2007 so that she could marry Kamrul Hasan.

She even arranged with the employment agency to find a replacement maid for the Mexican family.

But a month after Kamrul Hasan returned to Bangladesh for a holiday on 11Sep 2007, they broke up.

Miss Yulia then began going steady with Mr Corpuz. But by December, she and Kamrul Hasan had reconciled.

However, a love triangle seemed to be brewing.

Although Miss Yulia had broken up with Mr Corpuz on 9 Dec 2007, they still communicated frequently and intimately by phone.

The court papers showed that the accused had made several calls to Miss Yulia's handphone early in the morning on the day she died.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Peter Koy told the High Court that evidence would show that Kamrul Hasan had lied in his statements, and he even had sex with her before she died.

Consultant forensic pathologist Gilbert Lau, who performed the autopsy on her, said the extent of her injuries, like the bruising found in the soft tissue around her neck and throat, showed that her killer had strangled her with a lot of force.

He highlighted the existence of many abrasions and bruises on her chin, lower jaw, face and neck, which indicated that she tried to move her head and neck to resist being strangled.

He also pointed out abrasions and bruises on her upper limbs, which seemed to indicate that she had tried to defend herself while she was under attack.

Punched

Associate Professor Lau also pointed out a fracture around her left eye and a bruise on her left eye, which suggested her killer punched or hit her.

He said that bruises and cuts on the inner lining of her lips suggested that her killer had pressed on her mouth with his hands, thus pushing her lips inwards until they came in contact with, and were cut by, her teeth.

He added that abrasions on her genitals also showed that she had sex before her death. The trial continues today.

If found guilty, Kamrul Hasan could face the death penalty.