Alleged maid abuser Dennis Daniel was acquitted and discharged by the Petaling Jaya magistrate court today after he apologised to his former Indonesian maid Sri Mulyati Hamid.

After magistrate Hasbi Hassan ordered Daniel to read out his apology loudly in court, Daniel said: "I am sorry for everything that has happened to you."

Daniel was charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code for assaulting her with his hands and beating her on the head at his house in Kelana Jaya, at 4am on April 29. The charge carries a maximum fine of RM2,000, one year's jail or both.

When court began proceedings today, defence lawyer S Selvarajah made an application for the charge to be compounded, requesting the alleged victim to consider a settlement.

The court was adjourned twice to allow the parties to negotiate in chambers.

Prosecuting officer Adnan Suratman led the negotiation team and did not allow Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) social worker Jessy Ang who accompanied Sri Mulyati to be present in chambers.

Compensation for victim

Sri Mulyati finally agreed to settle with a public apology from Daniel. Malaysiakini also learnt that she was paid RM10,000 as a token of settlement from him.

Following that, Daniel, 32, was acquitted and discharged under Section 260 of the Criminal Procedure Code which allows for compounded charges to be withdrawn.

Sri Mulyati told malaysiakini she was pleased with the outcome of the case.

Meanwhile, Ang said WAO was rather unhappy in the first instance with the "lenient" charge preferred against Daniel.

"You should have seen her bruises, her black eyes and injuries when she first came to WAO," she said.

Ang believed that Sri Mulyati might have been persuaded to accept the apology and compensation when she was unaccompanied in chambers with magistrate Hasbi, Adnan, Selvarajah and Daniel during the negotiations.