Malaysian Police Probing Indonesian Maid's Death as Homicide

A diplomat from Indonesia and a local rights group urged Malaysian authorities Monday to conduct a thorough investigation into the death of an Indonesian maid who suffered injuries and, according to a neighbor, was forced to sleep outside with the family’s dog.

Police in the northern Malaysian state of Penang, where maid Adelina Lisao worked, have arrested three suspects – her 36-year-old female employer and the employer’s 39-year-old brother. The siblings’ 60-year-old mother was arrested on Monday, according to Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abd Hamid, the district police chief.

“We will apply for a remand order in court tomorrow and we have taken statements from several witnesses, including the neighbor,” he told reporters. “We are investigating the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.”

Police and other officials rescued Lisao, 26, on Saturday after authorities received a complaint from a neighbor, according to local councilman Joshua Woo Sze Zeng.

Woo Sze Zeng said he found the maid sleeping in the house’s carport. She suffered wounds to her face, hands and legs and was taken to a hospital but died on Sunday.

Lisao was made to sleep on a mat where a Rottweiler was tied up nearby for almost two months, Woo Sze Zeng said, citing an account given to him by a neighbor.

Neni Kurniati, a consul at the Indonesian Consulate in Penang, demanded a quick resolution, urging Malaysian authorities to immediately find the culprit behind the Indonesian woman’s death.

“We will leave it to the police to conduct a thorough probe into the matter,” she told reporters Monday at the hospital where the maid had been taken. She said there were no complaints from Lisao about being abused by her employer.

Lisao had been working for the same household since December 2014, Kurniati said, adding the consulate was trying to locate her family.