SINGAPORE - Cries of "Give me the knife!", followed by "Help!" was heard by a resident at Block 686B, Woodlands Drive 73 on Monday morning.
An account given by the resident to Lianhe Wanbao gave some clues to the maid who was found dead in a roof-top water tank of the HDB block in Woodlands.
According to the male resident who lived on the 15th floor of the block, he was on his way to work, when he witnessed tha maid and a man arguing at a stairwell. He had been waiting for the lift.
But he got a shock when he heard a female voice repeatedly crying out "Give me the knife!".
The resident added that he saw the maid being pushed against the wall, as the man who was with her held a knife in his hand. He rushed downstairs to call for the police as he was afraid something untoward would happen.
Another female resident on the 15th floor reportedly saw the man putting the knife against the maid's neck. She later heard screams of "Help!", followed by another scream, before everything became silent.
She said that the lift had traces of blood inside, and could have been left behind by the maid and the man during their struggles.
The Chinese evening daily also carried an account given by the Bangladeshi worker's colleague, who found the former sitting in a daze by the water tank at the roof top after he did not report for work. He also noted that the water tank was open.
When the worker did not respond to his colleague's questions, the latter sensed that something was amiss, and went to check on the water tank. It was then that he discovered the body of a woman lying inside the tank.
The colleague immediately informed his company, and several supervisers arrived at the scene to escort the Bangladeshi man to the second floor of the block, where they waited for the police to arrive.
The Bangladeshi man did not resist arrest by the police and is now assisting in their investigations.
A Straits Times report said that the Ms Ruliyawati, the 30-year-old Indonesian maid whose body was discovered in the water tank, had been in a stormy relationship with her 27-year-old Bangladeshi boyfriend. The two could often be seen chatting at the void deck of the block where her body was found. But they also had frequent heated arguments.
It is understood that the maid, whom friends described as petite and attractive, had a son, aged four, back in Indonesia and was married.
The maid and her Bangladeshi boyfriend met a month after she started work here in August last year.
A friend of Ms Ruliyawati, Ms Yuli Ernawati, 28, often quarreled at the void deck and in secluded stairwells at the black, and they often revolved around her family back in Indonesia.
She added that her friend would tell her that she wanted to call off the relationship, but would eventually reconcile with the man.
The dead maid's employers, who live on the sixth floor, have declined to speak to reporters.
