She had often seen Navin Jatin Batla, now 23, sneaking into the two-storey house in the Dalvey estate just to see Ms Mumta Manik Shahani, 38, a divorcee who has a young son.

The polytechnic student and his Web-designer lover were aware that Ms Munni, the maid, knew of their relationship and wanted all three maids in the household to keep mum about it.

But six months into the affair, when Ms Shahani's father Manik Shahani, 73, began to suspect something, he grilled all the maids. His demand: Swear on your children's heads to tell the truth.

That was an oath Ms Munni could not make so she spilled the beans. 'I had no choice but to tell him because in our Indian custom, we could not lie when told to swear by our children,' said the mother of two.

Upon learning the truth, Mr Shahani told his only daughter to stop seeing Batla but apparently to no avail, as they continued to see each other secretly. Batla had used a spare key to enter the house at will.

About a year later, Ms Shahani broke up with Batla.

Shortly after the split on June 30, 2006, the midnight stabbings occurred.

Ms Munni was asleep in a ground-floor room that she shared with another maid Mistri Lidiana, 37, when the door burst open.

Even without seeing him, she knew it was Batla - by the distinctive smell of the perfume he used, she said.

'At first, I thought it was a ghost and then I screamed. Then he came on my body and the smell made me feel it was Jatin.'

He slashed her twice in the arm and in the stomach. She was so stunned she did not know which came first.

Ms Mistri sustained multiple wounds on her abdomen, cheek, knee, arm and chest area.

Then Batla dashed out to look for his ex-lover's father, who was asleep in his room on the first floor.

'I felt very scared. I was just screaming please help me God, please help me,' Ms Munni said. 'When I saw the other cut on my stomach, I thought I was a gone case and there was no hope and nothing could be done.'

Holding on to her wounds, she climbed out of the window, and escaped by the stairs to a basement room where another maid, Ms Arthik, slept, and locked the door.

Ms Mistri, meanwhile, fled to hide in the kitchen.

Ms Munni clutched her stomach to stop the bleeding and lay low on the floor while Ms Arthik used her mobile phone to call the police.

Less than 30 minutes later, someone knocked heavily on the door and she thought it was Jatin who had come looking for her again. She kept shouting: 'Jatin, don't come.'

But it turned out to be the police and Ms Arthik unlocked the door.

Ms Munni was taken to hospital and warded for 12 days.

She has returned to work for her employers but will return home later this month as her four-year contract has come to an end.

The other injured maid, Ms Mistri, who has recovered from her injuries, is also still working in the same house.

Mr Shahani, a retired shipping consultant who was slashed in the neck and abdomen, is understood to have recovered as well.

Earlier this month, Batla, who was defended by senior lawyer B.J. Lean, was convicted and sentenced to 16 years' jail and 16 strokes of the cane.

But Ms Munni said she had 'no hatred' against Jatin for what he did. 'He is a very nice human being. He has gone in for such a stupid thing he has done and I should blame both parties.'

She added: 'Ms Shahani should have known he was too young to handle this kind of relationship because of the age difference. He should not have gone into it and she should not have allowed him to continue.'

Asked how she felt about Batla's statement in court that he would pay $1,000 each to her and Ms Mistri as a sign of remorse, she said: 'He has already done a bad act to us. If he is giving us, then I have nothing to say. It is like helping a poor family.'

vijayan@sph.com.sg