An Indonesian domestic worker who stabbed her employer more than 90 times was accused by a prosecutor yesterday of having lied to a psychiatrist to get a favourable diagnosis.

Daryati told defence psychiatrist Tommy Tan last year that she was having nightmares as a result of being repeatedly raped by her older brother when she was a teenager. But Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Kok Weng said this was the first time since her arrest in 2016 that she had mentioned the nightmares.

Daryati, whose documented age is 28 but claims to be two years younger, is on trial for murdering Madam Seow Kim Choo, 59, at her Telok Kurau house on June 7, 2016.

In April, she admitted to a reduced murder charge, which carries life imprisonment or the death sentence, with prosecutors saying they were not pressing for capital punishment.

Last month, she withdrew her guilty plea in the hope of getting a lower sentence by calling Dr Tan to testify that she had a mental condition that diminished her responsibility for her actions.

Yesterday, the prosecution sought to show that Daryati was not truthful in her account to Dr Tan, who saw her three times in September and October last year.

DPP Wong noted that Daryati did not tell Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist Jaydip Sarkar that she was having nightmares when he saw her three times in June and July 2016.

Daryati said Dr Sarkar did not ask further questions about her feelings after the rape incidents, whereas Dr Tan asked if she had dreams after the incidents.

But the prosecutor pointed out that Daryati had told Dr Sarkar she felt angry and frustrated about the abuse. "I see no reason why you could not have told him that you were also having nightmares," he said.

Daryati replied: "It's not easy for me to open up to him because he's not close to me."

The prosecutor also produced medical records to show that Daryati did not tell prison doctors she was having nightmares until after she saw Dr Tan. But Dr Tan had said in his report that Daryati told him she had reported the nightmares to prison doctors.

Daryati told the court that she could not remember when she told prison doctors about the nightmares.