The 70-year-old elderly victim, an Indian national, sustained 26 knife wounds and died from acute haemorrhage caused by the stabbing.
Zin, who claimed that she was suffering from diminished responsibility at the time of the murder, stood trial three years later in November 2021 for the crime.
On 10 May 2018, Zin was hired by an Indian-born financial controller who immigrated and settled in Singapore, and she began working for her employer, who lived at Choa Chu Kang with his wife and two teenage daughters.
On another occasion, in the kitchen, Zin had switched the stove on wrongly which accidentally caused the elderly woman to have her hand slightly burnt.
[16][17] Police were also contacted to investigate the case, which was classified as murder, and a manhunt was set out to look for Zin who was their prime suspect.
[19] Zin Mar Nwe, who escaped the flat with an EZ-Link card and some cash, wandered around Singapore after the stabbing, and she was arrested five hours later upon her arrival at the maid agency to retrieve her passport.
[30] Zin stated as a result of the threat of being sent back home and fear of incurring debts, she was triggered and lost control when killing the victim.
Christopher Bridges, the lawyer who was assigned by the state to defend Zin, sought to rely on Dr Tan's psychiatric report to reduce his client's charge of murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, a lesser offence of unlawful killing that warrants either a sentence of up to twenty years' imprisonment or life in prison.
Justice Maniam also pointed out that Zin had done the stabbing in a fit of anger rather than doing so under an impaired mental state, and described her decision to stab the deceased was an "emotional, irrational" one, which was why he chose to reject Dr Tan's evidence about Zin's alleged mental disorders and accepted Dr Lijo's testimony.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kumaresan Gohulabalan, who led the trial prosecution with his colleague Sean Teh, expressed that they would not seek the death penalty in Zin's case.
[38][39] In fact, under the existing laws of Singapore, the death penalty was prohibited in cases where the offender was below 18 years old at the time when they committed murder or other capital crimes.
[44][45] He also considered the prosecutor Sean Teh's contention that they did not object to a life term in view of the evidence which proved that the defendant was a minor at the time of the offence.
First-time maids were also noted for having a lack of community bonds in a foreign country and not having friends to seek help or release their stress.
Some maids may also find it difficult to adjust to moving from a rural living environment to an urban living environment, and the lack of family support, learning a new language and other factors also add to their emotional struggles, which was the case for Zin Mar Nwe, who had to travel alone from Myanmar to Singapore, where she worked with a salary of S$450 which her family placed total dependence upon.