WHILE her husband was in jail for about two months for assaulting her, Madam Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz called his friends for financial help.

The 32-year-old factory production operator got their telephone numbers from his cell phone.

That is how they met, said Mr Manimaran Arugulavan, with whom she had an affair later.

Madam Smaelmeeral was found dead after a fall from the 13th floor of a block of flats in Stirling Road on July 1 last year. Her husband Tharema Vejayan Govindasamy, 40, is accused of murdering her.

At the trial on Thursday morning, Mr Manimaran, 33, said he met Tharema twice with other friends in a Jurong West coffee shop in late 2006.

In January the following year, Tharema's wife called to say that he was in jail for hitting her.

She asked him for money. He met her and gave her $50. Two weeks later, he gave her another $20.

Mr Manimaran said that a friend, known only as Ravi, had also received a similar call from Madam Smaelmeeral.

On his release, Tharema hit Mr Manimaran with a bottle when he found out that his wife had met him.

After the incident, Madam Smaelmeerah moved in with Mr Manimaran. They became intimate but marraige plans were derailed a few months later after she accused him of trying to strangle her.

He said in court that he had placed his hands around the neck to get her into a taxi after an evening of drinks.

At Boon Lay, she refused to accompany him home and instead sought help from Tharema, he added.

The court also heard Tharema had hired private investigator Lois Raja, 46, to spy on his wife in March last year.

Tharema wanted evidence to convince the Family Court to grant him custody of their two children, aged two and five.

Mr Lois said that he had seen Madam Smaelmeeral at clubs since 1998 and thought of her as 'slutty' for getting drunk and leaving with a different man each time.

She changed after her 2002 marriage but returned to her old ways after her marriage went on the rocks early last year, he added.

Although he admitted to Deputy Public Prosecutor Stella Tan that he had no evidence that Madam Smaelmeeral had sex with other men, he said, 'I heard the gossip about her'. The trial continues and Tharema?s lover is expected to testify later on Thursday.