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SINGAPORE : The woman who claimed that she was forcibly exorcised by two priests from the Novena Church appeared in court for the first time, on day three of the high-profile hearing of the case .
But her brief appearance was cut even shorter as she kept breaking down on the witness stand.
Madam Amutha Valli who attended the hearing at the Supreme Court with her family appeared frail and vulnerable.
She was called to the stand 25 minutes before the hearing was to end at 5pm.
But the 51-year-old started crying loudly when she took the stand. Her lawyer, Bajwa Singh, asked her to compose herself and the court managed to get Madam Amutha to take her oath in between sobs.
Mr Bajwa then proceeded to read parts of her testimony for her affirmation.
The court heard how on 10 August 2004, she and her family had gone after dinner, at past 10pm, to the Novena Church to pray.
Madam Amutha then broke into tears again. She said repeatedly "don't touch me!" and added that she wanted to take her medicine.
This prompted Judge Lee Seiu Kin to adjourn the hearing.
Earlier, lawyers spent almost the whole day cross-examining and re-examining Madam Amutha's daughter, Subashini Jeyabal.
Defence lawyers produced several freshly taken photographs and even a three-minute video clip of the Pastoral Centre where Madam Amutha and her family claimed she was exorcised against her will, an event that left her traumatised for life.
Defence lawyer Denis Tan suggested to Subashini that she had made up the stories, such as seeing her mother pray before a statue of Mary, and that they were locked out of the room where her mother was forcibly exorcised.
Subashini countered that all the points raised could be a scam on the church's part.
Mr Tan also said that Madam Amutha, who is said to be able to perform trance acts for rewards, had trained a young boy in 1994 to slither like a snake for a trance dance.
The lawyer also asked Subashini if she was aware that her mother was once scolded by her uncle for 'misbehaving' with her sworn brother Resham.
Subashini denied any knowledge of these allegations.
Much of Wednesday's trial centred on defence lawyers testing Subashini's evidence on the 'toilet episode'.
Madam Amutha had claimed that after the alleged exorcism rite, Novena Church Priest Simon Tan had asked to be able to watch her urinate with the door open. This left her traumatised.
Subashini was asked to mark out - as evidence - on floor plans and photographs where she said the priest and his helpers alleged stood watching.
The court room was packed to the brim. Many members of the public who started queuing early in the morning had to be turned away. - CNA /ls
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